Original Losers' Script Versus The Final Movie

[dodger_winslow]

So this is interesting: http://www.imsdb.com/Movie%20Scripts/Lo ... cript.html

It's the original script Peter Berg wrote for The Losers way back when. The one, I assume, that Jeff read that kept him locked in for however many years, hoping to do the movie when it actually got made.

There are some pretty significant differences all the way around from what actually hit the screen. For the most part, I think the revisions worked better than the original would have. Why? In large part because the original takes itself far more seriously. It's lost the "we are snarking on graphic novels and their traditions at the same time as we're deadly serious about this game we're playing as if it doesn't really matter"ness that made the movie such an overwhelming success for me.

One of the things I most enjoyed about the flick was the beautiful balance they struck between the over-the-topness of comic book heroes and villains and the complex subtleties of human nature and band-of-brothers masculine bonding. In reading the script? I found that lacking, and not just in the visualization of things either. The characters were a little too ... real in a non-mythic way for me. And perhaps more importantly, they lacked the level of differentiation the movie had as filmed. In the original script, Aisha was outright unlikeable, and the rest of the team was more of a pack, with only Clay standing out as a character in his own right with personality traits and issues that made him seem fleshed rather than sketched.

So first and foremost, there's that. If they'd tried to make this movie with this script? It would have missed the sweet spot of jumping into your own pool of fangirl/boy happy place to watch a bunch of characters who are at once archetypes and individuals. Which is to say, it would have tried to be Eric Bana Hulk instead of Edward Norton Hulk. Not a genre mix that anyone has yet mastered ... nor, for my own personal beliefs, that anyone ever WILL master, although I reserve the right to be proved out wrong as hell by someone writing a graphic novel script that manages to be both Casualties of War and Ironman at the same time.

Second, there were some VERY problematic logistics in this version of the script, most relevant being how they played Fadil into the whole equation, and how Jensen uncovered Aisha's motivations in that regard. For me, this version didn't make much fuckin sense AND it utterly neutered the heart of the Clay-Aisha relationship. I also didn't care for the logistics of having them all back home on the domestic front when Aisha chased them down as compared to them living la vida loca in Bolivia with her contribution to the "work for me because I can do shit for you" dynamic being about getting them back home, not getting their names cleared. Lastly, I REALLY didn't care for either the change from Clay to Cougar in who offed Fadil (it killed the emotional arc of the movie for me, and gave no payoff in how it resolved-didn't resolve) or the report-back-bomb-in-the-bunker betrayal (didn't believe it, didn't make sense character-wise, and was clunky as hell in terms of pacing).

Character-wise, I didn't like the original script Jensen at all. Where I LOVED the movie-verse Jensen. The mix of awkwardness and badass the movie character embraced? Was unique and perfect. And Chris Evans was the perfect choice to play it to full potential. This Jensen, on the other hand? Was utterly flat for me.

I detested this Aisha. She had no soul or motivation. All the subtext of "He was a bad man ... I don't care!" was completely absent. She was mercenary in an unlikeable way instead of a "yeah, she's badass, but she's still a girl in her squishy parts ... a girl who can kick your ass, but still a girl."

Roque was flat. Didn't really care that he betrayed the team. Didn't feel the love between he and Clay. Not 100% that was the script's fault though rather than just the fact that Idris put so much personality into how he played Roque that I flat-out loved the character totally apart from either script's dialog for him. And the chemistry between he and Jeff (and anti-chemistry between he and Zoe) made the scenes between them sing in ways that, again, didn't have much to do with scripting changes so much as it as just flat-out great acting that probably would have played in either version of the script.

Both Pooch and Cougar also suffered in the personality department for me in this version, although again, not sure that wasn't due to the actors breathing life into those character in a way that would have worked for this script as well as it did for the final script. Hard to tell ... the chemistry in this group of actors is SO strong it had it's own zip code, and THAT was in no way related to scripting.

Clay and Max, on the other hand, had both benefits and downsides to this version versus the other.

Max, in particular, read less toony-in-an-irritating way than he did in the movie. But on the other hand, the level of camp Patric put in the role matched the campier dialog of the final script; and what that campiness bugged me in ways, it also suited the overt comic-bookness feel in ways I liked once I got used to it.

Clay? Worked in both version. I see why Jeff was drawn to the original script, as Clay was the one character who really played in that script. I think, in the long run, I like how he played in the final script better just because it gave him more heart. The stuff between Aisha and Clay as it relates to Fadil, in particular, and the stuff between Clay and Roque was very much the heart of what I loved so much about this character, and very little of that come through in this version of the script. On the other hand, the way Clay suffered the loss of the kids seemed stronger in this version of the script. I regret the loss of the tatoo relevance in the final movie ... Clay's "that's not for you" to Aisha when she asks about it is a scene I would have really loved to watch Jeff play.

Things I liked better about this script? The short scientist and his relationship with Max was MUCH more satisfying than the one they played in the film. I think Wade read stronger in this version of the script than he did in the final film. I kind of liked the implication that pitting Clay and Roque against one another was exciting for Aisha ... that dirtied up her character's emotional complexity in a way I appreciated rather than resented. Jolene's ending with the purple ribbon was MUCH more elegant than the out-of-tone hacky "stuck in traffic" crap they played in the film ... one of the few moments in the film that actually worked AGAINST the film in my view rather than for it. On the other hand, the pure funny of Jensen's hissy fit over his niece getting knocked over on the soccer field was incredibly emotionally satisfying and funny, so losing that would have broken my little heart a bit. Losing the dive-off-the-crane crap was a positive, too, and I liked the fight between Clay and Roque better in this version of the script, too.

Things in this script I would have shot the movie for doing? Cougar laying down his rifle and Aisha's "wear them and remember him" bullshit. Literally. I would have thrown shit at the movie screen if they'd put that in. The whole pervert-in-the-basement Omar stuff ... so trite it would have given stale marshmallow chicks a run for their money in shtick, and the Fadil begging to be shot so this was really a mercy thing would have gutted the movie both in terms of psychological integrity and emotional stake for both Aisha and Clay.

Things I would have sobbed over losing in the movie that weren't in the original script: the Journey song schtick with Jensen. The sex-on-strut walk after getting out of the coffins. Jensen not getting to see his niece's championship playoff. Pooch's "your mama's a pirate" line.

So all in all? I'm REALLY glad they script doctored up this script into the final film we saw. And I'm also glad I got a chance to read the original script. Aside from always finding it interesting to see how a script tailors itself to the actors cast and director hired to head it, I heard Jeff say something in one of his interviews about preferring the original ending to the new ending they filmed, and hoping they decided to use the original in the final cut. Not sure what the end he was referring to was -- whether it was the one in this script, the one the film showed, or something else we'll probably only see on the 2 DVD deluxe director's cut edition -- but it made me curious as hell to read Peter's original script. And for my money, the purple ribbon ending would have been MUCH stronger than the trite and badly-played "mission pregnant" ending, and the originally scripted fight between Clay and Roque would have probably been more satisfying than the one that was in the film (although the whole "take him" scene would have had to be sacrificed to make this version work, and I would NOT have wanted to sacrifice that scene, as I LOVED it, both in the over-the-topness of it, and in how graphic novelesquely it was blocked and filmed), I wouldn't have wanted to lose the Jensen's niece ending, which was the perfect note to leave the film on, and one of the funniest bits in the movie.

So ... anybody else have any thoughts they want to share about the differences between this script and the film we saw? I'm all ears ... or eyes, as the case may be.

Dodger

[Tink922]

Dodger, you amaze me with your eloquence as usual.

[dodger_winslow]

Thanks, Tink.

d