Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Nobody Knows Nothin'

Nobody Knows Nothin'"- friend Howard Kotch, movie producer(2004)

(2008)
I was on the set of David Spade's show "Rules of Engagement". We were sitting on the set(a mock-up diner). I was sitting at a booth, and Spade was sitting 3 feet from me. The dialogue in this scene was actually decent and funny; Spade's character and the Indian-looking guy with the British accent were discussing a bet regarding women. The scripted dialogue went like this:

Spade: "Ok, then we have a deal".

British Guy: "Grand".

Spade: "We're in America now, so you can just say 'OK'"

(Studio Audience laughs)

British Guy: "No, you'll PAY me a Grand if I win".

(Studio Audience laughs again at funny double-connotation).

And I also laughed at this point. It was funny....until the director himself fucked it up with the most thoughtless subtext ever:

The director walked over to Spade and the cast members around him, and instructed the British Guy to say GRAND, but this time "enthusiastically and sarcastically" simultaneously.

I immediately realized(internally): "What the fuck is this director(rather, "mis-director") thinking?. If the character says it in THAT tone, it's as if the British Guy psychicly knew that Spade's next line before Spade said it so he could set him up for the mis-understanding which now won't be perceived as mis-understanding(the JOKE itself!), but just bad directing! And this guy is directing David fucking Spade!? What the fuck!?".

No comments:

Post a Comment