Mare Crisium

Going back to MODA winners for this week's installment. Mare Crisium is one of the great stories about dreaming big. A fairly transparent adaptation of the Icarus myth, what is truly remarkable about Mare Crisium is how uplifting the end of what is essentially a distressingly tragic story can be. Full credit goes to screenwriter Robert Christopher who won his first MODA for Mare Crisium at the 1995 ceremony.  Of course his place in Hollywood is by now practically legendary and you can expect to see more of his scripts appear in this blog.

This scene opens the film and with great economy reveals the depth of Jack's ambition as well as hinting at his destructive mania. Rewatching this scene - and the fantastic performance of Edward Sweigskraft - knowing where the film is ultimately taking Jack, and vicariously us, there is never any doubt that reaching his goal, at literally any personal cost, will be a triumph for Jack.

                 A voice speaks in the darkness.

                                         JACK (O.S.)

                           Okay, here it is: I propose to

                           go to the moon. In… the next ten

                           years.

                 From the darkness, the pinpoints of stars form.

                                         SIG

                           Great. Great JFK. How are you

                           going to do that?

                                         JACK

                           Seriously.

                 The camera drifts downwards from the skies... to the

                 glow of city lights... a house... a fence, a yard... a

                 patio with two men - JACK (35), and SIG (38). They lay

                 on lawn chairs, staring up at the stars.

                                         SIG

                           No you aren't.

                                         JACK

                           Listen here…  Okay. Ninteen

                           sixty… whatever, Kennedy says

                           "we're going to the moon in ten

                           years" - that was bold.

                                         SIG

                           They did it.

                                         JACK

                           Yeah they did it. They had every

                           genius on the planet indentured

                           to a dream.

                                         SIG

                           So how the are you going to go

                           to the moon?

                                         JACK

                           Well it's been done right? I

                           don't have to invent anything.

                           It's been done.

                                         SIG

                           It's all patented.

                                         JACK

                           So is the zipper on your pants

                           but how many companies make 'em?

                                         SIG

                           They invented their own

                           variants.

                                         JACK

                           Exactly! Based upon the

                           knowledge that it could be done

                           and a working sample. 'Sides,

                           its not like I'm planning to

                           profit - I just want to go.

                           Can't sue me for that.

                                         SIG

                           Speaking of money, it cost them -

                           I don't know - a hundred billion

                           dollars to work it out. Apollo

                           Eleven was like mission number…

                           I don't know…

                                         JACK

                           Eleven.  

                                         SIG                                

                           Ten. Those guys died during

                           training.

                                         JACK

                           Right. Apollo One. The Remo

                           William's guy played him.

                                         SIG

                           Each of those missions cost a

                           fortune.

                                         JACK

                           I only have to do one. None of

                           it has to be tested. It has all

                           been done.

                                         SIG

                           People die! Apollo One…

                 Jack gazes at the moon.

                                         SIG (CONT'D)

                           You're pulling my leg.

                 Jack smiles to himself.

                                         SIG (CONT'D)

                           It'll still cost millions.

                                         JACK

                           That, I can work out.

Jack the dreamer