Great Scene: “(500) Days of Summer”

When an original screenplay starts out like this:

Title page: (500) DAYS OF SUMMER by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, First Draft 2006

Next page: NOTE: THE FOLLOWING IS A WORK OF FICTION. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO PERSONS LIVING OR DEAD IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.

Next page: ESPECIALLY YOU JENNY BECKMAN.

Next page: BITCH.

You know straightaway you’re reading a comedy. Screenwriters Neustadter & Weber stated they decided with this script to take “every chance we could” to make the story interesting. And they do including this great scene where reality becomes hyper-reality.

The story’s Protagonist Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has been pining away for Summer (Zoeey Deschanel) for precisely 28 days. And this happens:

Tom walks a few more steps.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, without his even
noticing, SUMMER HAS WRAPPED HER ARMS AROUND HIM AND PULLED
HIM INTO A KISS!

It’s unbelievable. There’s a few seconds where Tom isn’t sure
if he’s dreaming or not. But then he realizes, suddenly, out
of the blue, his best case scenario really is actually
happening.

(29)

It’s the greatest morning of all time!

Tom walks down the street. Or, more accurately, Tom struts
down the street. He’s pointing at people as he passes,
winking, doing a little shuffle. He is the man. He checks out
his reflection in a window. A YOUNG PAUL NEWMAN stares
back.

People wave as he passes, they clap, they give him thumbs up.
A parade forms behind him. The POSTMAN, a POLICE OFFICER,
the HOT DOG VENDOR, RONALD MCDONALD and MAYOR
MCCHEESE, everybody loves Tom today. HALL and OATES
themselves walk with Tom singing the song.

Cars stop at crosswalks to let Tom go by. The DRIVERS also
pump their fists in celebration of Tom’s achievement last
night. He walks on, the man. We notice the sidewalk lights up
every time he touches the pavement like in “Billie Jean”.

CARTOON BIRDS fly onto Tom’s shoulder. He smiles and winks at
them.

Compare to the scene in the movie:

You’ll note that the scene as shot is similar but different to the scripted version. No Paul Newman. No Ronald McDonald. No Hall and Oates (though evidently, they came really close to getting the musicians to agree to perform on camera). No “Billie Jean” sidewalk. But that’s not important. What is is that Neustadter & Weber conveyed the tone of the scene, the basic arc of the scene, and provided the director with ideas for the scene.

Often budget and production constraints make certain scene elements impossible to shoot, so a writer has to learn to live with that. But I’ll bet N&W were damn happy they got the animated bird in the scene!

Great scene, great script, great movie.

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