MovieChat Forums > 8MM (1999) Discussion > just read original script, Schumacher's ...

just read original script, Schumacher's version on film is BETTER!!!

posted 12 years ago by al666940-3
6 replies | jump to latest

SPOILER

Anyone who knows how Se7en almost got screwed out of its epic ending by the studios surely knows that Andrew Kevin Walker accused Schumacher of emssing up the script and walked off the set.

So i set out to read it for myself (it's online).

And guess what:
- The changes are minimal
- They are for the better

And since I loved Se7en's ending, that tells you I am no fan of nipple/butt/gay Batman (Schumacher's utter destruction of the Batman franchise).

So if I sy they are for the better it's because they really are (i'LL DISCUSS THE MAIN ONES):
- Wells showing up at Eddie's office flashing the girl's picture: it was added to the film, and it really works since cops in real life do it all the time precisely to catch an unguarded reaction from possible suspects, which is precisely what Wells gets and from there focuses on Eddie. In the script he justs settles for him out of being the last entry in the girl's diary. Unrealistic for me.
- Machine's physique annd face revealed: it's never revealed and his body type is different. In the novel he's a juiced up bodybuilder (obviously a frail man overcompensating) and we never see his face. In the movie he's a much more realistic sex freak (big yet not ripped, much like Gandolfini himself actually) and the fact that his face turrns out to be average/normal looking (actually much like the Zodiac's) drives the point home that the WORST monsters are not Dino/Eddie sleaze/weird looking (you can spot them a mile away), but the ones you most likely deal with daily and are none the wiser about. Works much better thatw ay for me. Keeping his face hidden in the script achieves no purpose at all for me.
- Machine tracking down Well's address: it was removed from the movie with good reason. When exactly was he supposed to do that while recovering from a stab wound exactly? It's overkill, Wells already has Dino's threat to motivate him to go after all of them.
- Dino's line "If you don't give me that film, we're gonna kill him, *beep* him, and film it". In the script it ends at "kill him". Seriously, that line in the film is priceless.

[–] gwilson-22 11 years ago

If you haven't already read the trivia, it says Schumacher actually sided with the studio to soften up the storyline. This caused the screenwriter (Walker) to disown the film. Personally, I would have liked to have seen the original, edgier version before Schumacher perverted the script for his masters.

[–] Nerd_in_Norway 10 years ago

The changes doesn't seem to "soften" much at all, just make it more coherent.

Have you read the original screenplay?

[–] patkav6 10 years ago

Totally agree, man.
I read it and I like what they cut from the script. Many voice overs of Mary Anne Mathews and other bits that dragged a bit too long. I think Schumacher made a classic thriller. I read Andrew Kevin Walker hasn't even seen the film. Schumacher came up with the Dance With The Devil line too, which Walker hated.

[–] Drooch 9 years ago

Sounds like Schumacher improved the film. I'm sure IMDb trivia used to mention an original ending in which Wells kills himself by diving into a wall, it seems to have disappeared. I take it this was never in the original script?

[–] Drooch 8 years ago

I think in the film it's 'We're gonna kill him, fúck him, and film him', which is funny cos once he's dead he's no longer a 'him', it's a corpse. Wells should have corrected Dino on his language before leaving to retrieve the film.

[–] al666940-3 8 years ago

Nope, he does say "film IT" clearly, meaning the rape and murder.

Even the subtitles say IT.