LITTLE STAR - An attempt at a Script Version

[danielma]

Granted this is very much a work in progress...but I thought it could be fun to write a script version of Little Star.

This could take months...I have to re-read the book and take a lot of notes. But I figured I might give a bit of a taste. This was something I worked on earlier tonight. It's not a lot, just an attempt at an opening.


INT: LIVING ROOM. LATE AFTERNOON

We hang on a DIMLY LIT Living Room. There is a COUCH, an OPEN WINDOW. The floor is out of sight, Its an eerily calm sight, almost peaceful but an air of DREAD hangs over this room. In the BACKGROUND we can hear the faint sounds of sirens. The faint sounds of SCREAMS. Of a CROWD Panic. Whether they are close or far off is undetermined.

The CURTAINS blow slightly from an open window as the CAMERA starts to push slowly in.

We hang on this scene for just a few moments.
Then we hear the VOICE of a YOUNG GIRL NARRATING OFF CAMERA

YOUNG GIRL
You will ask why?
Why, Why, Why.

On the News Placards

In the Papers

Big Thick Letters.

WHY?


And this is our Answer:



BECAUSE!!!

EXT. PARKING LOT - QUICK FIRE MONTAGE. NIGHT

This is the Sing Along at Skansen Event. But not as we normally know it. Its now just a scene of Panic.

It’s CHAOS. The sounds of Police Sirens are now in full bloom.

Paramedics are rushing injured civilians out on stretchers. Victims of a senseless massacre.

Onlookers crying at the sights surrounding them.

In the background we hear the sounds of the ABBA song THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC blaring from the speaker system inside the Sing Along Festival.

Almost as if someone had forgotten to turn off the music in admits the CHAOS.

Several POLICE OFFICERS looking lost, unsure how to handle the situation.

Some of the OFFICERS are CRYING at the senseless MAYHEM. Others shaking their head in DISBELIEF

CUT TO

INT. MAIN STAGE. NIGHT

We are focused on the back of the head of a YOUNG GIRL with Blonde Hair. Her features are undefined.

She is surveying the fleeing panicked crowd in the rafters. Nothing about this scene seems to phase her.

The MUSIC overpowers everything else.

The STAGE LIGHTS are overpowering.

It all looks very Surreal. Very Dream Like.

[gattoparde59]

I don't know about this. Maybe tipping you hand too early by showing the mayhem right at the very start?

I would keep the general idea but show Theres with here unseen face taking the stage, all the happy audience members looking on, girls with posters "we heart Tesla" as we hear the ominous words to Teresa's letter. Nobody suspects what is to come.

Yeah, that is the spirit!

[danielma]

Good Idea is a Good Idea Gattorpade

Like I said, this is going to take me some time to write...for the most part its now just a work in progress

My inital idea was to wrap it around...start off with a hint of Johannes Death and subsequently the massacre at Skansen and then work our way to what made those events happen...but a better idea might be what you prescribed

[[Eden]]

Very nice try!
Looking forward for more

[EEA]

Cool idea!
I would start with the concert to but instead show the stage all empty and with no one there. Just show the blood splatter everywhere and the chaos. Things thrown around and stuff. Then begin with the Teresa and then how she becomes obssesed with Telsa.

[varamiglite]

I think there's going to be a bit of a dilemma though... Similar to LTROI, the book is just too long and detailed for everything to fit into a reasonable length for a movie. The question would be which parts get shortened or removed altogether?!? If I can throw my own two cents in there I'd make Laila and Lennart's part of the story either a fairly quick part narrated by Theres, or as a series of flashbacks weaved into the current events. The same would have to go with Teresa's childhood. On second thought Theres' childhood scene should have no narration, to make it more odd, since Theres never really spoke when she lived with them.

The wraparound idea is perfect! Maybe even go so far as to have the movie begin and end with the exact same scene so that what the viewer was confused by at first now makes more sense. I like the idea of someone taking a stab at a script for Little Star. So far, so good... keep up the good work!

[danielma]

I think there's going to be a bit of a dilemma though... Similar to LTROI, the book is just too long and detailed for everything to fit into a reasonable length for a movie. The question would be which parts get shortened or removed altogether?!? If I can throw my own two cents in there I'd make Laila and Lennart's part of the story either a fairly quick part narrated by Theres, or as a series of flashbacks weaved into the current events. The same would have to go with Teresa's childhood. On second thought Theres' childhood scene should have no narration, to make it more odd, since Theres never really spoke when she lived with them.

Where there is a will there is a way No seriously I get what your saying...just looking at the book is quite daunting to think that I'm actually going to maybe attempt this...so I do get it

Yeah I thought about that...what I wrote above was a sample to get me motivated to actually do this...I have an extra copy of the book that I started reading again last night and found myself using a highlighter to highlight certain sections.

My theory for Lennart and Laila was either to Montage it (compress their screen time down a bit whilst still getting across the main factors)...or to leave it out and have Theres tell Teresa what happened to them (after all she ends up confessing to Teresa what happened and what she did, so could make for an interesting flash back scene)

The most daunting part right now is how much character detail there is within those first 100 pages or so...that's the daunting part about this...because all of it is really good in the book, but how do you condense it for a film version? That's the part that I'm seeing will be the biggest problem as I push forward with this...

My thought was to maybe start the script off (after the prolouge and set up) with Teresa and show her life, keep Theres a bit of a mystery. Set up Teresa and her life. Then have her discover Theres on Idol. That starts her borderline obsession with Theres (as it does in the book). Then she eventually makes contact through the Poetry forum, meets up with Theres, slowly Theres backstory is then revealed to Teresa (and the audience) and so forward

The biggest problems I see though come with the likes of Jerry..and the other characters. I really liked Jerry in the book, but if you were to go the route of Theres is a mystery living with a mysterious older man, then your potentially going into "Hakan" territory whilst sacrificing all of his character development.

I don't know...its going to be a challenge, but what the hell I shall try...even if it takes me months on end.

[varamiglite]

Well if approached right the movie could exceed the two hour mark, thus giving you more time for character development. Most of my favorite movies are over two hours long so I personally have no issue with movies that exceed what is "standard length." Character development is essential, especially for Theres. If the viewer doesn't come to grips with the fact that she has never been "all there" they won't be able to get the right kind of attachment or detachment to her. I'll bet you'll think of some way to work it out. Just have fun with it, try different things.

[snaps]

I like the idea of someone taking a stab at a script for Little Star.

Sorry I laughed in the wrong place there

Thank you for letting us see something of your Project, Daniel.

I agree with what others have said. There would need to be considerable ‘telescoping’ of events. I think this is achievable with some ‘compounding’ of events for example Jerry’s first visit (in the book) with his discovery of Theres. In my draft of a Prologue, for instance I have introduced Laila from the outset.

Naturally there would loss of detail, the key thing is keeping the essentials in place to make the story credible. But there are also ‘creative’ ways of stringing events to a fluid storyline. Realistically we probably wouldn’t have more than three actors playing Theres. Maybe Theres, as baby, as a seven-year-old and as a fifteen year-old. Likewise with Teresa. We could have Lennart perhaps looking back through an album of photographs or family cine film as knitting the development together. I also think that in a film version, Teresa needs to be brought into the story earlier on. There are also key ‘segues' as pointers to the abnormality of the situation. So, for example we could have focus on baby Theres being spooned baby food, track to baby food jar, then pull back to the seven year old face as she feeds herself, and likewise as a continuum from the seven year old, to the baby food pot, then back to the face of the fifteen year old.

The Prologue is very important as it can be used to set-up (and violate) the expectations of the audience to dramatic effect, even if it is quite a long lead-in.

I’ll post a rough version of how I might see it on here.

[snaps]

PROLOGUE

EXT: Summer evening, Swedish twilight. A light breeze. Camera tracks downwards from nightsky of stars and Moon, to exterior of Teresa’s House. Slow zoom to the only light, an open window, Teresa’s bedroom. There is the light sound of a keyboard tapping.

INT: Teenage Girl’s Bedroom. Track in through window. We see TERESA sitting at a computer typing. She pauses between lines. We see the first lines written on the screen:

You will ask why?
Why, Why, Why

Between lines, the camera pans around the bedroom. The wind picks up. A normal teenager’s room. The exception being anachronistic posters on the wall. Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Broder Daniel, Charles Manson, Conor Oberst, maybe Baader-Meinhof?, curtains flutter in the wind, becoming audible.

On the News Placards
In the Papers
Big Thick Letters.
WHY?

And this is our Answer:

Close-up study of Teresa’s face, concentrated contorted look and grin as she picks up a photo of Theres, from her desk, and kisses it. Brief focus on photo face of Theres.

BECAUSE!!!

The last word is hammered out on the keyboard, it mixes with the sound of automatic fire and the wind howling.

EXT: Rapid fade to ‘Singalong at Skansen’, gelled edges, diffused light, suggesting dream or fantasy. There is silence. Focus to THERES onstage, looking passive, angelic. She is serene in the middle of what appears to be ‘dry ice’. She breaks into plain unaccompanied song: ‘Fly’

As the camera pulls back we see in slo-mo: scenes of chaos, people running around on-stage, Theres sings on oblivious. The ‘dry ice’appears to be smoke from a fire.

Panic, terror and confusion as the camera pans the face of the crowd, seen from Theres still passive viewpoint, but we hear only the voice of Theres.

Theres sings on, her voice being gradually drowned out by a cacophony of howling wind, rapid gunfire, screaming, shouting, sirens, and the amplified sound of electric drills.

EXT: Jump cut to silence, a Swedish forest in Autumn. Focus on LENNART humming, and randomly picking mushrooms, distracted by ‘the package’. Lower screen overlay display: ‘FIFTEEN YEARS EARLIER.’

He approaches the package, mumbling to himself, as the contents are revealed to us.He gasps an audible broken cry, a high pitched ‘E’. Focus on Theres’ face as she responds with a (dubbed on) perfect pitch ‘E’.Lennart is smiling but his face is flooded with tears as he lifts up the infant Theres.

Lennart is joined by LAILA, singing. She stops abruptly.

LAILA: Lennart. What’s wrong? What have you got there?
LENNART: looks at Laila dismissively, impatiently. A natural-born singer. A Little One. Abandoned. Half-Buried.
LAILA: What are you going to do with it?
LENNART: Excitedly. Laila, listen! She has perfect pitch, a gift from Heaven. Listen woman!

LENNART: hums croakily a mid-range rather ‘A’. Theres responds with a perfect ‘A’.

LAILA: Frustrated. Well WE can’t keep her. She’ll have to be sent to a Childrens Home.
LENNART: shudders, looks at Laila with contempt. He ambles back to his car as Laila trails.

Theres gurgles. Lennart manages a calming ‘C’ and Theres responds likewise.

LENNART: The only home she is going to is ours. Musicians have to be nurtured. That makes US the perfect parents. She was unwanted, but not now.
LAILA looks on resignedly.
LENNART: She is a gift to us from God. In gratitude, WE are going to make her into the perfect performer. Our own ‘LITTLE STAR !’

Fade, as Lennart places Theres on the back seat of his car, amid half-hearted inaudble protests from Laila .


ROLL opening credits over background track, ABBA: ‘Thank You for The Music.’