13th Warrior script..

[trampadoo.livejournal.com]

Hi there!

I hope this has not been posted before and I guess post of you already know it anyway but I found the script of The 13th Warrior. Its an early version and maybe the way that Crichton had intended it at first. There is less pc, more violence, more sex and also more depth and dialogue. I think it would have made a longer and maybe more sophisticated movie but also an entirely different one that is much closer to the book. I am not sure if it would have worked, though. Too much talking for the action movie audience, rating too high, people would have been shocked about the brutality, the way women are treated (no offence to any Americans here but from my experience the US is awful when it comes to seeing the difference between a movie promoting bad things or what we see as bad nowadays and a movie portraying bad things) and the religious discussions might have been uncomfortable as well 'cos of paganism = bad thing for certain people.

And even worse.. there is not a proper male/female love story. Okay, they managed to cram that into the movie somehow but in the script Ahmed gets it on with a slave girl in front of the other guys and that is that. *g* The real feelings happen between Ahmed and Herger and their relationship is even closer in the script. Look at Ahmed's reaction after the first fight when he is looking for Herger and thinks he might be dead. And there is one thing that didn't come out in the movie at all, something I really love about the original draft. Ahmed is worried for his friend all the time because he looks at life and friendship as the essential thing while Herger does not fear death and looks at life as something that will pass by. At first he doesn't understand Ahmeds fear of losing him because he believes he will meet those he cares about again in Walhalla. There are several scenes when Ahmed cries for someone and asks Herger how he could still be so happy, why he never cries.

But at some point the way they preceive life and death, their religious believes, seem to blend in and they understand each other more and more. In the end Ahmed has become a warrior who does not fear death that much anymore and in the end Herger, actually, feels for the first time the pain of losing a friend in life. I just love the last scene in the script. When they say good-by Herger cries for the first time because he understands that he will never see Ahmed again in his life, something he would certainly not have felt before he met him. I think that is a much more satisfying ending for the movie but I also understand why they didn't dwell as much on the Ahmed/Herger relationship as shown in the script. It would have simply looked too gay for the manly male potential movie goes the movie should have attracted. And the crying in the end? I think it would have been a very beautiful scene and if done well you can do anything but they didn't dare. Pity.

I love the movie but since I like my Ahmed/Herger I loved that the scrip offers a bit more about those two as well. ^_^

13th Warrior script..

[trampadoo.livejournal.com]

Hi there!

I hope this has not been posted before and I guess post of you already know it anyway but I found the script of The 13th Warrior. Its an early version and maybe the way that Crichton had intended it at first. There is less pc, more violence, more sex and also more depth and dialogue. I think it would have made a longer and maybe more sophisticated movie but also an entirely different one that is much closer to the book. I am not sure if it would have worked, though. Too much talking for the action movie audience, rating too high, people would have been shocked about the brutality, the way women are treated (no offence to any Americans here but from my experience the US is awful when it comes to seeing the difference between a movie promoting bad things or what we see as bad nowadays and a movie portraying bad things) and the religious discussions might have been uncomfortable as well 'cos of paganism = bad thing for certain people.

And even worse.. there is not a proper male/female love story. Okay, they managed to cram that into the movie somehow but in the script Ahmed gets it on with a slave girl in front of the other guys and that is that. *g* The real feelings happen between Ahmed and Herger and their relationship is even closer in the script. Look at Ahmed's reaction after the first fight when he is looking for Herger and thinks he might be dead. And there is one thing that didn't come out in the movie at all, something I really love about the original draft. Ahmed is worried for his friend all the time because he looks at life and friendship as the essential thing while Herger does not fear death and looks at life as something that will pass by. At first he doesn't understand Ahmeds fear of losing him because he believes he will meet those he cares about again in Walhalla. There are several scenes when Ahmed cries for someone and asks Herger how he could still be so happy, why he never cries.

But at some point the way they preceive life and death, their religious believes, seem to blend in and they understand each other more and more. In the end Ahmed has become a warrior who does not fear death that much anymore and in the end Herger, actually, feels for the first time the pain of losing a friend in life. I just love the last scene in the script. When they say good-by Herger cries for the first time because he understands that he will never see Ahmed again in his life, something he would certainly not have felt before he met him. I think that is a much more satisfying ending for the movie but I also understand why they didn't dwell as much on the Ahmed/Herger relationship as shown in the script. It would have simply looked too gay for the manly male potential movie goes the movie should have attracted. And the crying in the end? I think it would have been a very beautiful scene and if done well you can do anything but they didn't dare. Pity.

I love the movie but since I like my Ahmed/Herger I loved that the scrip offers a bit more about those two as well. ^_^