Would you enjoy your favorite movies if the cast looked, sounded and behaved more like you and I?*
*Slightly over-weight, acne on nose, scratching itches as they occur, often speaking in incomplete sentences peppered with “uh” and “um.” etc. etc.
No. Real people are not as articulate as a movie script z nor as witty and clever in their conversations.
That’s the deal killer. The results would be dull.
Plus their dialog overlaps making it harder to follow. Some directors have tried this (I’m looking at you, Robert Altman) with mixed success.
I don’t want to see “real” people talking like “real” people in my entertainment. I get enough of that for free, when I pay for a film I want something better looking and more interesting.
I’m with Oscar Wilde; Life should imitate art, not the other way around.
Naturalism has its place, but it only goes so far. Even improv auteurs like Mike Leigh don’t go that far. Real life talking is like the shaky-cam of dialogue, it may be realistic, but it would distract and interfere with the flow of the story.
No. Fiction should be more interesting and/or pleasant than real life, or there’s no point. I can get plenty of* actual *real life for free any time I want, after all.
I would like actors to be a little more ‘real’ in appearance. I don’t want dialogue to be the dull kind of everyday speech though.
On the other hand, I’d get such a kick out of a character acting, or rather reacting like a real person.
For instance, on a sitcom one character (let’s call him Jerry) says something hilarious. The other character (George) might laugh, but Jerry never does.
In real life, Jerry would crack himself up, both would be laughing, and when the next character entered, they’d replay the whole conversation.
Virtually everyone I know would grab the next person and say “Elaine, you’ve got to hear this… let me catch my breath… George was complaining about how long Russian novels were…”
“And I said I gave up on War and Peace… and Jerry says… tell her what you said!”
“I can’t… you tell her.”
“So Jerry just looks up from his cereal and says real casual-like like it’s a real fact, ‘Did you know that the original title for War and Peace was War, What Is It Good For?’ And then he tries to act like it wasn’t funny and go back to eating but a second later he spits Lucky Charms all over the table.”
“We’ve been laughing about it ever since…”
“Ever since?”
“Yeah, that was an hour ago…”
Action movies should not look like Beverly Hills Ninja.
Perhaps it would turn every genre into comedy?
I can get “real people” any time I want, by stepping out the door. I go to movies for the fantasy element, for things I can’t get IRL.
(I, personally, never watch movies from the “drama” category – movies essentially framed about real people in real life. Gimme a superhero epic, a costume comedy, maybe a blazing war flick. When it comes to, say, Sophie’s Choice, my choice is no.)
Eb
I’m a sucker for amazing, witty, fast-paced dialogue, so let’s keep that.
However, I think having more variety in body types and attractiveness would add a lot in movies. (Of course the chancellor/stepmother/pawnbroker was evil, didn’t you see that ugly mug?)
… or a Tragedy…?
Happy for more variety in people, but I don’t want warts and all type dialogue.