Thursday, June 28, 2007

Lovely Bone Daddy

Variety have reported that Ryan Gosling will play the father of Susie Salmon in the Lovely Bones movie. That was a real eyebrow raiser for me. I can see him as Mr. Harvey, the murderer, much more easily than as Jack Salmon.

Here's Jack's first big scene with Susie (which I will contrast afterwards with Mr. Harvey's introduction):

ANGLE ON: JACK and SUSIE huddle over a BOTTLE on his WORK DESK... we drift past FOREGROUND SAILING SHIPS, peering through MASTS, SAILS and RIGGING. JACK looks up as ABIGAIL'S voice resounds upstairs.

SUSIE
We've gotta finish it - Mom won't mind if dinner gets cold.

JACK
Yes, she will.
(squinting into the bottle)
...hold it steady.

SUSIE slowly pulls a tiny piece of THREAD between her fingers.

JACK (cont'd)
You kids take your mother far too much for granted.

SUSIE
I just think there's more to life than cooking and cleaning.

JACK
This may surprise you, but your mother does too. I remember when she decided to go to California...

SUSIE
She never told me about that!

JACK
She never went.

Okay, so it doesn't exactly preclude the casting of Gosling, and he does make a good match for Rachel Weisz, playing Abigail.

But, on the other hand, here's the introduction of Mr. Harvey:

CLOSE ON: MR. GILBERT - his gaze lights upon GRACE TARKING, as he chats with MR. HARVEY, an unremarkable looking 36 year old man.

MR. HARVEY
Egg shells. best fertiliser, bar none.

MR. HARVEY gestures towards his immacualte GARDEN, festooned with RED GERANIUMS, just as JACK appears with a TRAY of DRINKS.

JACK
Must get a bit ripe in the simmertime!

MR. HARVEY
My wife Sophie put me on to them.

JACK
Well, I can't argue with the results.

MR. HARVEY'S SMILE fades...

MR. HARVEY
We bought this place just before she was diagnosed.

SUSIE (calling)
Dad!

CLOSE ON: JACK looking concerned.

MR. HARVEY
I lost her to cancer.

And that's just the beginning of a part I can easily see Gosling nailing perfectly. Apparently not the part he's been given, though... but I trust Peter Jackson. He knows what he's doing.

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