We’ve all been there: you’re writing a new script, and you know, on paper, it has a great story… but for some reason, the script just doesn’t click. cyclist—Arkansas-born writer-director Jeff Nichols’ new film is a great reminder that choosing an unexpected character, through whose eyes we experience the story, can elevate the material to awe-inspiring A new level of excitement and curiosity.
Inspired by a 1967 photo album documenting young male motorcyclists in Illinois, this ensemble drama tells the story of the rise and fall of a motorcycle gang known as the Vandals. Among them is the charismatic leader Johnny, played by Tom Hardy. Austin Butler plays Benny, a hot-headed enigma who finds a purpose (not to mention a father figure) in Johnny and his saboteurs.
Looking for perspective cyclist
Even if told objectively, the events of this story would be interesting – after growing in popularity during the free-spirited ’60s, the gang began to shift with the advent of violent, drug-driven darkness, reflecting the emergence of post-Vietnam America. of division. But Nichols chooses not to tell the story objectively. Instead, Cassie (Jodie Comer), one of the few female characters in the film, explains the events to the audience through interviews.
“Kathy has the funniest interview in the book,” Nichols told me on my podcast Script Apart last week. “She has a tension about masculinity. There is a tension in masculinity because we know a lot of it is wrong. These tropes are not necessarily true: Men can share and express their emotions. Men can express themselves,” he said, explaining how these themes take on a new dimension when viewers see them from a female perspective.
“The other side of that tension is that when a man is a man, it’s very attractive. Cathy is caught up in that tension,” Nichols added. “She knows Benny may not turn out well for her in the end, but she wants to be with him. So she’s not just an observer of masculinity tensions — she’s complicit in it,” he said.
If the film tells the story of Benny, Johnny and their colleagues from a neutral perspective, the question of why men behave as they do pulsates beneath the surface. cyclist It just won’t hit the same way. By making Cassie the audience’s entry into the Vandals, the film’s themes become richer, evolving into a meditation on what it means to be a man, past and present, and how the women in these men’s lives are often trapped in masculinity behavior in chaos.
What would happen to your latest script if you chose a different character to tell the story? If you believe in the story you’re telling, but feel like your current execution doesn’t jump off the page, this might be a fun exercise to try. After all, it works for Nichols cyclistone of the best movies of 2024 so far.
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Read more: Why you should avoid writing passive characters (and how to make them active)
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