Hey folks, Harry here... I was told by a fella at Universal that this film was looking spectacular... And how it was going to blow people away, but Moriarty didn't care for the script too much when he read it... but along comes another reviewer... Living Tribunal... he's reviewed several things in the past... and here he says that K-PAX could very well be a wonderful film... No real spoilers here... but I hear the trailer should kick our ass, and I've heard that it will be on JURASSIC PARK 3... So till then... here ya go.....
Hey Harry,
Living Tribunal checking in again, this time with a script review of K-PAX. The draft I got my hands on is kind of old (dated June 2000) and written by Bryan Goluboff based on a novel by Gene Brewer. It runs 126 pages.
The story concerns a supposedly mentally handicapped named Prot (rhymes with "coat" the script tells us) who claims he is from the planet K-PAX and is here to study Earth. Now a "resident" of the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute, Prot (who will be played by Kevin Spacey) is the patient of Dr. David Harris (although the imdb says his name has been changed to Dr. Mark Powell), a successful psychiatrist for 17 years who is now up to become chief administrator of the facility. David will be played by Jeff Bridges.
DAVID
Do you have any brothers or sisters [back on K-PAX?]
PROT
(shakes his head)
Almost no one has more than one child.
DAVID
Why not?
PROT
Sexual intercourse is very painful and accompanied by
a very bad smell.
DAVID
How is it painful?
PROUT
The moment of climax is like getting your gonads caught
in a vice and falling into a pool of mot shit at the same time.
Now, just the idea of Keyser Soze and Jeffrey Lebowski sharing scenes together is an idea that makes me drool. After reading the script and seeing what a great character Prot is, well I just ruined a pair of Lucky's with this giant boner I'm sporting. [I'm going into some slight spoiler territory coming up, so be forewarned]:
Everyone assumes Prot is insane, but there are things about him that make David and the other docotrs begin to wonder. For example, Prot has the visual acuity of an insect, he knows more about atsronomy than the head atstrophysicist of Cornell, it seems he can smell malignant tumors on someone's breath, etc. He speaks to David's other patients and they all begin to show marked improvement when they follow Prot's unorthodox advice. Could it be he really is from another world? Maybe. But if he were an extraterrestrial then why would he be exhibiting the increasingly extreme behavior of a paranoid schizophrenic? The question of Prot's true identity is the central crux of the movie and it works because he is so marvelously written. Prot can be smug, frightened, charismatic, hostile, bizarre or brilliant--sometimes all in the same scene. This character plays to all of Spacey's strengths and I can't wait to see him knock this one out of the park.
Unfortunately, the character of David isn't nearly as well drawn. It's even more of a shame because they've gotten an actor of Jeff Bridges' stature to play him. We are supposed to feel that David's interactions with Prot are supposed to change him. In what way I'm not sure and neither is the script. Is David supposed to become a better doctor, a better husband, a better New Yorker, what? He needs a better--and please don't stone me for using this term--but he needs a better throughline. Some need or flaw of his established at the beginning that gets resolved at the end. This draft of the script doesn't have that and I hope they've added something like it.
Regardless, Prot is such a great character and his story is so compelling that I didn't mind David's two-dimensionality. The only way they could fuck this one up is with some syrupy, heavy-handed direction (for some reason, I'm thinking of PAY IT FORWARD right now). Thank God they've got Iain Softley to direct. Now, I haven't seen HACKERS, but I love WINGS OF THE DOVE and thought it was handled with just the right amount of subtlety and gravity which is what K-PAX to truly soar. If the studio doesn't meddle with Iain and they respect the audience's intelligence, I guarantee plenty of heartstrings will be tugged. The story is strong enough. We won't need a flowery score or melodramatic slo-motion to be affected.
I like how this script has an ambiguous ending, but with one caveat. There is a pretty major supporting character with a kitten named Bess in this draft that seems to be forgotten in the denounment. Her story isn't resolved and I understand that they wanted to keep that ambiguity, but she still felt like a loose end. I mean, she isn't even mentioned in the last couple pages and that irked me. Just give me some better idea of what happened to her.
In closing, I think this movie should end up being pretty solid and if they give Bridges some more meat to chew on K-PAX could end up being really special. Here's hoping.
Endearingly Yours,
Living Tribunal
