Film Courage: If we look at Forrest Gump does he have defining moments?
Christopher Riley, Screenwriter, Author, and Instructor: Wow, that’s a really interesting question. Forrest experiences a moment that doesn’t transform his inner nature. His inner nature is constant. He’s an innocent, that’s his genius but when the movie opens he’s an innocent alone. The moment that he climbs onto the school bus and meets Jenny defines his life. His life will never be the same after that moment that he climbs onto the school bus. In fact there’s dialogue in the film where he says, I can’t quote it but It’s funny what a person remembers. I don’t remember my first pair of shoes, etc but I do remember the first time I heard the sweetest voice in the whole wide world. He meets Jenny on the bus. She invites him to sit beside her and he says in very defining moment language From that moment on we was like peas and carrots. He experiences a moment that defines him even though it doesn’t redefine his inner nature, it defines his experience of life. I think that when Forrest finds out he’s got a son, that is a transforming moment. It redirects the course of his life. His life will now be about caring for a little Forrest. I think that Jenny’s death is also probably a defining moment for him because his life (at least as told in the movie) is bookended by meeting Jenny and then losing Jenny but receiving from her the gift of his son and that then will define the rest of Forrest’s life. So defining moments don’t always…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Christopher Riley is a professional screenwriter who co-wrote with his wife Kathy Riley the award-winning German language courtroom thriller After the Truth. The Rileys have written scripts for Disney’s Touchstone Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Mandalay Television Pictures, the late Sean Connery’s Fountainbridge Films and Robert Cort Productions. Christopher produced the independent action-thriller Red Line and executive produced the web series Bump+. He is the author of the classic screenplay format guide The Hollywood Standard, now in its third edition, and teaches screenwriting at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The Riley’s latest book is The Defining Moment: How Writers and Actors Build Characters (through Michael Wiese Productions).
BUY THE BOOK – THE DEFINING MOMENT: How Writers and Actors Build Characters (by Christopher and Kathy Riley)
BUY THE BOOK – THE HOLLYWOOD STANDARD: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to Script Format and Style
CONNECT WITH CHRISTOPHER RILEY
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