Watching a movie is one thing. Reading one is something else entirely — which, admittedly, sounds like the most obvious statement ever written: “reading is different from watching.” You’re welcome for that genius insight. But seriously, when it comes to a movie, the dynamic between the mediums is a bit more complex and if you’d like, you can see exactly how when it comes to several big 2021 awards contenders.
We all know that a great screenplay is the backbone of a great movie. You almost never have a great film without a great script, some documentaries and improvisational films aside (though those usually have some kind of script or outline, but I digress). And seeing how a writer conveys the ideas for a story on the page can sometimes be quite different from how you see them brought to life on screen. Unless the writer is also the director, once the script leaves the writer, dozens upon dozens of people are going to mould that vision. Ultimately the director oversees them all and brings them into a cohesive form, but actors, cinematographers, production designers, editors, concept artists, and many more people take the written word and bring it to life in new and sometimes different ways.
So that’s our long pitch on how, even if you’ve seen great movie, you probably don’t know everything about it unless you’ve read its script. And our friends at the Film Stage went around the internet and found the scripts for several 2021 awards contenders that have been made available for free to the public. The main reason for this is for awards voters to read them for potential consideration, but that doesn’t stop you from downloading them and enjoying them on your own.
Head over to the Film Stage for a comprehensive list including several dramas and comedies, but at the following links you can get the scripts to these sci-fi and fantasy movies:
- Dune by Jon Spaiths, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth
- Last Night in Soho by Edgar Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns
- Nine Days by Edson Oda
- The Tomorrow War by Zach Dean
Yep, even The Tomorrow War — awfully optimistic of the Amazon awards department, but sure!