California State University Northridge (CSUN) Professor Eric Edson [Screenwriting Masterclass] Okay now we're gonna get into the
character types here first of all we're
going to start with an adversary
adversary is the primary opposition for
the hero right and it's one person
appears unbeatable for you know good
hunk of the movie usually throughout
throughout Act two they can wear a mask
of friendship they can be a wolf in
sheep's clothing for a while and then
that comes off and they are revealed who
they truly are but they have not changed
categories they were simply disguised
for a while do you remember the fugitive
again this goes back a few decades but I
was Harrison Ford in his heyday when he
was you know an a-list movie star and he
is Richard Kimble on the run he was been
convicted and condemned condemned to die
for his wife's murder which of course is
tearing him apart because he really
loved her a lot but he has a friend that
he had when he was still a doctor and
respected and all that he has a friend
and when he escapes and goes back home
to try to find you know that the
one-armed man and all that who who they
thought was the real killer this is his
friend who he helps him out a little
slips him you know whatever cash he's
got in his pocket you can't give him a
cat you know we can't go to a bank he
needs help and this character the this
other doctor helps Kimble and and speaks
well of him and so forth but what we
find out at the end of Act two is the
helpful friend doctor that's the
adversary who set him up he is he's it
he's the bad guy and then in Act three
it's all about the resolution between
the two of them fight to the death kind
of thing so it can they can wear a mask
of friendship but that not is not the
case they are not always a bad person
and you know that and I'm sure you've
seen and can think of a whole bunch of
adversary characters they're not
and bad people they just happened to
because of circumstance with the nature
of the story they come into opposition
with your hero and that can work
extremely well sometimes and remember of
course the adversary must be one person
not an idea not a group it has to be one
person or a personification of one
person by that I mean jaws or one of
those the shark is the adversary there
there's another guy who's messing thing
as an independent troublemaker and
that's the mayor of the town but it's
the shark who is the director adversary
but it's not just a shark it's a super
shark it is the smartest most devious
most bold and vicious and and seeking of
revenge
a shark seeking revenge this is what I
mean by when when such a creature an
animal becomes your adversary they
become more like a person they are
personified it seems some we're gonna
take a look at something I am Legend the
top zombie it's the same thing it is the
sentient zombie who becomes the
adversary because he can think and plan
and hate and he's the only zombie who
can do that that kind of thing
ok here are some examples some classic
examples of adversaries oh heavens who
will ever forget Jamie Gumb is that how
you pronounce his name down here on the
right the nightmares that character gave
to lots and lots of people and certainly
lots and lots of kids he played it you
know the actor who played it it was
written so strong and and and drippy
with menace and then it was played to
the hilt by the actor the poor actor you
know for some a couple of years after
this he
get any more work because everybody took
a look at him and said oh that's Jamie
Gumb it was so typecast the poor guy he
was too good yeah but eventually you
know now he works all the time yeah he
plays a lot of cop parts oh yeah yeah
yeah yeah right yeah yeah oh he's a
great actor yes
okay that's but this is clean and clear
I mean this is the bad guy the crazed
killer okay sergeant Foley in an officer
and a gentleman that's up up there that
was Lou Gossett jr. and he got an
Academy Award
I think Best Actor Best Supporting
supporting Best Supporting Actor
he's the drill sergeant and he's not a
bad man he's a very good man
with a very difficult job he is a drill
sergeant whose job it is in these new
candidates for flight school these are
all the people who want to become jet
fighter pilots right and it's his job to
weed out the ones who just might get
themselves or somebody else killed and
he the ones who don't aren't willing to
defend and risk themselves to support
and defend their their fellow fighter
pilots and and he puts a lot of pressure
on him to see who cracks and there are
several who crack and one of them who
almost cracks of course is the hero
Richard Gere so he's not a bad man but
oh what a challenge and what an
adversary he presents to be to the
Richard Gere character Miranda Priestly
and The Devil Wears Prada ooh a woman
who just relishes in crushing people for
the pure power of it it's it's
marvelously written and marvelously play
Karen Crowder
that's the character's name from Michael
Clayton how many of you have seen
Michael Clayton mmm
that you got to put on the list Michael
Clayton I at the risk perhaps of getting
too personal that's one of my favorite
films Michael Clayton and that year I
was only I know seven eight years ago I
was
beside myself furious that it was
overlooked for the Oscars because there
was so much going on there it was a
really terrific film and her as the
adversary you just got to see this you
got to see this she's an executive you
know a woman trying to climb her way up
in the executive jungle and her
interpretation of how that is done is
you do anything necessary up to and
including murder it's not like she's
comfortable with it but she does it and
she is the adversary it's great it's a
wonderful movie agent Parcher in a
beautiful mind this is the beautiful man
I used to try to do that in this class
but it's too long and it's too
complicated and goes you know there's
too many things to talk about so it
really doesn't work for our purposes but
a beautiful mind is the story of a man
John Nash a genius physicist
and he goes insane he I forget the
nature of the insanity but he yes he has
hallucinations he talks to people who
aren't there I mean his whole career was
destroyed by I mean what can you do you
go insane they don't employ insane
people as professors and scientists but
that could have been done whereas I mean
what does that mean it means that John
Nash is his own worst enemy he is being
destroyed from within that means he's
his own nemesis however it wasn't done
that way when it was turned into a movie
the nemesis the adversary has to be one
person a real person and so Agent
Parcher came onto the scene and was
invented agent Parcher is his strongest
fantasy although he doesn't know it's a
fantasy for you know two-thirds of of
act 2 but it's his invention and
projection
of a person who has control of him and
that way okay agent Parcher is the
personification the one person adversary
that fills in for him being at war with
himself because Wars you know battles
where people are their own worst enemy
as a rule they do not work we can talk
about that later if you like I got
another example there but agent Parcher
and amy done in gone girl okay there's
some great examples now then here's
here's my first example for you for
adversary here's the reason I picked
this one sideways how many of you have
seen sideways oh good good good most
most of you and it's worth it's worth
putting down on your lists sideways was
an independent small movie outside of
the Hollywood mainstream truly I I
checked and I believe it was made for
around six million dollars total budget
its total gross in its in national
theatrical release was a hundred million
dollars and that's in its first
theatrical release yes that I would say
against the six million it cost to make
it did very well indeed so of course I
got it broke it down and it is the
paradigm it worked because it is the
paradigm writ small as opposed to the
big-budget movies where it's writ large
but that is the way it is structured
beginning to end and one of the things
that's unusual about it is that the
adversary most people say jack is you
know his friend his lothario friend who
keeps getting in more and more trouble
every single day that that miles the
hero had then has to get him out of that
he that he's the adversary he is not he
is jack in this
those who have seen it and may see it
soon jack is a comedic sidekick
character and the adversary is Miles
ex-wife Victoria he is obsessed with and
crushed with depression over they got
divorced about a year ago he lost his
wife Victoria we find out eventually
that it was his own fault but you know
it's not her fault she didn't just dump
him he crossed the line he had an affair
etc old story but she is not physically
present in most of the movie she is
present in two locations this scene
which is very early in in the second act
and then she shows up and that even that
she's not physically present we only
hear her voice on the telephone and then
she shows up in the obligatory scene
remember the the adversary has to be one
person or personification because of the
obligatory scene that's where they have
to show up in the flesh so that the hero
and the adversary can go for all the
marbles and that's where she shows up
which again is proof that she's the
adversary but it's done so uniquely and
so simply I just I just I really cherish
this adversary is not physically present
the hero's ex-wife Victoria okay let's
see if I can lay this out for you
quickly I got to do this like that okay
the setup for does a few of you who have
not seen it and the setup is that Myles
has taken Jack his his good buddy on a
bachelor-party trip through wine country
in one week Jack will get married and
Myles is an on a file and that's why
he's taking him to wine country and
showing him around he's proud to show
him how much he knows about wines but
unfortunately Jack has always been a
compulsive chaser of women any woman
who was in the room he it's like it and
it is it's a compulsion and he admits
that later on he says you don't know the
nature of my problem and it's true it's
for him a real problem but that gets him
into all kinds of trouble which means it
pulls miles into all kinds of trouble
okay
Jack recently told miles just Matt a few
hours before this scene but Jack told
miles that his ex-wife Victoria just
remarried miles didn't know that
obviously because it wasn't invited to
her wedding and that four miles in this
little movie that is stunning surprise
one because he freaks out and he's very
childish in his response and he runs
back to the car you just talk he's
waxing loquacious about the memories of
when he came to this beautiful spot
where he'd taken Jack under this tree
and we had a picnic here and we drank
wine and made love and and then Jack
breaks it to him he says look I was
looking for an opportunity when we were
alone to tell you this but Victoria just
remarried and and miles comes unglued
grabs a bottle of wine runs off into the
vineyard as Jack is chasing after him
trying to stop him and he's slugging
back this is the beginning of act 2
there are remember what we said about
act 2 act 2 well act 1 that fades into
Act two is the adolescence the character
growth in the character growth pattern
it's the adolescence of the hero and at
the beginning of act 2 miles is quite an
adolescent and very childish in his in
his moods and and in his depression and
that's and that it's laid out for us at
the beginning of act 2 this is the
nature of what must change within him in
the character growth arc right
so Jack has just set up this blind
double date because he met Stephanie the
lady is sitting beside there in that
other picture and he's coming on full
bore for Stephanie unfortunately he
doesn't tell Stephanie that he's going
to get married in about five days just a
little oversight there and of course
that weighs on miles too because miles
has a better moral compass than than
Jack does about these things and it's
troubling him but you know he can't blow
it up either jack has set up a blind
double date with Stephanie who got a
friend of hers to come so basically Maya
is miles miles date for the night but he
is ignoring her completely because he's
getting drunk and he's being depressed
miles is lost in the past all and this
kept getting repeated and even in in act
one even his mother says it he stops off
for a scene with his mother he's you
know stealing borrowing money or
something like that
and my mother says oh you should go back
with Victoria you two are perfect for
each other
she is echoing the truth of his
suffering he has always felt that they
would get back together again and that's
his greatest wish and I love
double-entendre titles and that's part
of a double entendre of the title of the
movie which is sideways sideways number
one of course means drunk
it's another you know another term for
tipsy because people move sideways
rather than straight ahead they lose
balance but sideways is also the way
that miles is living his life he can't
go ahead he's stuck he's focused
completely on the past he wants to step
back into the past get that relationship
again and he cannot think about moving
forward and that's why at the moment he
is not communicating very well with the
lovely lady Maya at all miles has lost
from the pan
ass longing to go home to Vicki you
can't even and again as a repetition you
can't even see this terrific woman Maya
right beside him Jack doesn't want a
drunk miles to ruin Jack's own chances
of sleeping with Stephanie jack is yes a
narcissist and he's just worried about
his own goals and concerns but he's
sweet and he's funny and he is he has
told miles do not drink and dial he told
him I just outside he's been shaking him
is you cannot drink and dial I don't
want you spoiling this date so of course
miles drinks a lot drinks a lot of wine
until it gets good and blasted and he
goes to dial stag staggers on back to
the pay phone at the back of the
restaurant
and the dialing of course is to Victoria
and so there is a scene here early in
the second act where the power of the
adversary is demonstrated just here it's
only on the telephone she is not
physically present okay Victoria answers
the phone and he's light hearted and he
tries to be you know upbeat about it Oh
Jack just told me and I called to say
congratulations on your wedding you know
and it's all bullshit of course and it
slips into Jack's being sarcastic and
snide and then crashing pretty much
crashing emotionally then he crumbles
and says it again and out loud I just
always felt someday we'd get back
together again and that's become harder
now since she's gotten remarried and the
adversary still dominates every corner
of his life she has the power here you
see how that is she is more powerful
than he she they divorced she is moving
on in life he can't he's stuck because
of his immaturity and she says miles
don't call me when you're drunk well
didn't help and he kind of weaves on
back to the table miles still is stuck
drifting sideways and more than anything
he still wants to go home to Victoria
and Jack has just ticked off at him
because he's starting to spoil his odds
with Stephanie that's that's Jack's fist
over the top of the wine bottle cutting
him off Myles must learn what true adult
unselfish love is it's a really very
nice very very well drawn character
growth arc he does grow up by the end
okay so now we jump to act three and the
one other scene the obligatory scene in
which the adversary appears at great
personal risk Myles has gotten Jack home
just in time to be married and the big
wedding and stuff right and as you can
see in the picture with the bandage Jack
has had his nose broken for those of you
who haven't seen the way he gets his
nose broken is when Stephanie finally
finds out that in 24 hours he's going to
get married to somebody else and she
whacks him really hard and breaks his
nose okay but Myles is the hero and
Myles has grown in the second half of
the second act because Jack gets himself
into such deep trouble and it's pretty
pretty outrageous and it is a hilarious
comedy and it's it works it all works
it's awfully well written but he has
made sacrifices and take taken great
personal risks to get miles back and get
him married he has matured and so he
must face the obligatory scene and here
comes Victoria Victoria comes up to him
and introduces her new husband and
rather than the childish reaction that
he got at the beginning of act 2 he's
hurt
yes he's wounded he's just you know
awful things emotionally are going on
inside of this guy but
the new husband can is is is respectful
he offers a handshake he's glad to meet
him and all that and then Ken makes
himself scary she says I'll give you
guys a minute and I'll go get the car
you know he's a class act
really this guy miles discovers Ken is
actually a decent guy miles is suffering
yes but he deals with it by also
offering respect in return so they chat
a little bit more he's no longer
behaving like a child
like he was several times earlier and
that's a good thing and miles says well
let's go to the reception and toast to
your wedding
only this time he almost means it and
Victoria says oh she's not going to the
reception she's given up drinking and
that's kind of strange
two miles because they were wine
drinkers and they shared that passion
when they were together and ken comes up
and she says I need a minute more and
this all sets up for what's coming you
know those of you who have seen it then
the final Tet I mean she's sweet about
it she has taken the time to make sure
he knows in advance this is an honorable
thing for her to be doing and the final
test and the final blow she says as
gently as she can I'm pregnant
for a guy like miles that is truly the
hardest kick in the vitals he could
possibly receive and Victorian can't
head off to their future lives together
and miles now knows there's absolutely
no road back that's it her life is
settled and set in another way and he is
not part of it that's never going to
happen he must love her enough to
finally let her go and then there's this
lovely little kind of quasar Daniel mall
scene where that is his victory at last
he closes the door on the past and he
throws himself a growing up party he
opens his best and most expensive
outrageously expensive bottle
wine which he was always saving for a
very very special occasion well now he
opens it alone in a burger joint to
toast to the salt and a solitary
farewell toast to Victoria and the past
and to a hope for a new start in the
future for himself okay I got a bit far
afield there because it's a small movie
and small movies are more about
interpersonal things than than the
larger movies and in order to understand
the adversary and the power she has over
this hero you need to know some of this
stuff but this is an extra for this
story and this hero this is an
extraordinarily successful adversary
character she's in true scenes in the
whole movie that's another way of doing
it okay and these are the requirements
primary opposition for the hero yes
appears unbeatable for a long long time
she sure peers unbeatable and and she's
going to take him down a very bad
emotional trail can wear the mask of
friendship not relevant not always a bad
person she's not she's a true sweetheart
must be a person and so she is so you
can see some of these are fulfilled in
this particular adversary and some of
them are not
