10 Intriguing Things from the Script of Barton Fink That Aren’t in the Movie
As part of my continuing obsession with the Coen Brothers’ classic 1991 film Barton Fink, I’ve been re-reading the script (published by Faber & Faber). Here are the most interesting bits and how they correspond (or don’t) to the film.
(Spoiler warning for this 25-year-old movie. Also notice I shan’t be discussing all the interesting things that are hard to hear or notice in the film — like the publishers of Mayhew’s book — those are discussed in the Wikipedia article. Note also that the DVD contains some missing scenes, including an interesting bit from Garland about how many people go to the pictures compared to how many can see Barton’s play. I shan’t be discussing them here.)
1: Barton lashes out at wealthy people in the restaurant.
In the film, Barton endures his producers’ champagne toasts at the fancy restaurant with quiet resignation and self-deprecating comments. On page 8 of the script, however, he says to Richard (the guy who howls like a dog): “Thanks, Richard, but I know for a fact the only fish you’ve ever seen were tacked to the wall of the yacht club.” (On page 10, Barton tells his agent Garland that RIchard’s lady friend Poppy has “Millions of dollars and no sense.”) Take that, wealthy people Barton secretly wants to receive praise from!
2: Barton starts kvetching about “the life of the mind” on page 12.
Before Garland “convinces” Barton to sign a contract with Capitol Pictures (note that a deleted scene on the DVD has him citing statistics about the millions of people who go to the pictures every week, compared to the few hundred who see his work “if the play sells out”), Barton starts whinging early in the script about how deep he is: “It just doesn’t seem to me that Los Angeles is the place to lead the life of the mind.” (In the movie, he holds off until he meets Charlie.) Little does he know, of course, that someone out in LA will in fact show him the life of the mind.
3: The stage directions are worthy of note.
The first sounds we hear from Charlie are described on page 25 of the script as “muffled laughter from an adjacent room […] it is weary, solitary, mirthless”. On the next page: “Perhaps because its quality has changed, or perhaps simply because it is so insistent, the laughter now might be taken for weeping.”
When Barton listens in on the “two lovebirds” next door, we get this gruesome description: “The woman’s moaning continues. We hear the creaking of bedsprings and her partner, incongruously giggling.” Having seen the movie about 100 times by now, I would most definitely not describe the sound coming from the guy in that scene as “giggling”.
Later, at the USO show, “The band blares nightmarishly on”. In the final shot of the Hotel Earle, “A horrible moaning sound — almost human — can be heard under the roar of the fire.” Given all the ambiguity in the story itself, it’s interesting how ambiguous the directions are — and how the actors chose to interpret them.
4: Charlie is even more friendly and solicitous.
Charlie Meadows is a friendly and affable guy in the movie, but he’s even more outgoing in the script. When Barton asks if he’s boring him, Charlie replies on page 33: “Hello no! Jesus, I’m the kind of guy, I’ll let you know if I’m bored. I find it all pretty damned interesting. I’m the kind of schmoe who’s generally interested in the other guy’s point of view.” (This last bit is especially intriguing, given Barton’s claim to share this attitude, and the reality of how uninterested he actually is.)
5: WP Mayhew has heard of Barton.
The stage directions on page 38 for Mayhew’s vomitous entrance are amusing (and somewhat illuminating): “We hear throat clearing, as if by a tenor preparing for a difficult passage. It is followed by the gurgling rush of vomit.”
In the film, Mayhew responds to Barton’s compliment in the bathroom with a simple “Thank you, son, how kind.” On page 41 of the script, however, he follows up with this: “Bein’ occupied here in the worship of Mammon, I haven’t had a chance yet to see your play — ”. It’s possible, of course (given his later claim that Barton is “a schoolboy” and “a buffoon”) that Mayhew just doesn’t want to tell Barton what he really thinks, whether he’s seen it or not.
(Mayhew’s exclamation later on about “WHERE’S M’HONEY!!” appears in all capital letters, with two exclamation points. Charlie’s hallway soliloquy at the end of the film also gets the all-caps-double-exclamation-point treatment.)
6: Audrey’s mind is “well packed”.
The object of most intense scrutiny at the end of the film, of course, is the “paper-wrapped parcel” that Barton receives on page 97. (In the script, Charlie hands it to Barton; in the film, he sets it on the nightstand.)
Whatever’s inside (and we have no reason to believe it’s anything other than Audrey’s head), it is described this way: “He shakes it. No sound; whatever is inside is well packed. Barton holds it up to his ear and listens for a long beat, as if it were a seashell and he is listening for the surf.” This corresponds intriguingly with the crash of the ocean and the setting of the final scene of the movie.
7: Geisler delivers a message after the poolside meeting with Lipnik.
We still don’t know who’s calling on the phone while Barton is writing Burlyman, but on page 107 of the script, someone knocks on Barton’s door as well; this sound is also ignored. (The cotton is already in Barton’s ears at this point.) We get to see the person knocking; it is “Someone […] sliding a note beneath the door”: A form that says: “While You Were Out […] You were called on by Mr. Ben Geisler.” The handwritten note below says: “Thank you. Lipnik loved your meeting. Keep up the good work.”
Perhaps Geisler would have offered to kiss Barton’s feet, had he answered the door.
8: Barton asks Garland about God.
In the movie, Pete the elevator operator is the only person with whom Barton discusses The Bible. (This is on the way down to meet with the detectives for the first time. On page 101 of the script, Chet apparently asks Barton if he will talk to them in his room. He says: “No, don’t send them up here. I’ll be right down.”)
Later in the script, however, before calling him a “nitwit” and after bragging about how “big” his script is, Barton also asks his agent: “Have you read the Bible, Garland?” He responds with the “is everything okay?” question, which is in the movie.
9: Pete is murdered.
Before Charlie shows up again for his final conversation with Barton and the detectives, the cops move into the hall and see Pete, the elevator operator. Page 117 of the script contains this grisly description:
At this distance he is a small figure, stumbling this way and that, his hands pressed against the sides of his head. […] He takes one last step, then collapses. As he pitches forward his hands fall away from his head. His head separates from his neck, hits the floor, and rolls away from his body with a dull irregular trundle sound.
It’s hard not to consider the parallels to the spherical bed part that rolls away after Charlie frees Barton soon afterwards in the film.
10: Charlie has one more line.
I realize this is quite minor, but I’m interested by its absence in the film. After he frees Barton, Charlie tells him: “I’m getting off this merry-go-round.” Then he says (as in the film): “I’ll be next door if you need me.”
Not too significant, but I’m not sure what I make of it. Does it mean he’s done killing people? Or perhaps he’s removing himself from Barton’s life? Or maybe there’s some other way to read this line?
Filmmakers have all sorts of reasons to change a project from script to screen, of course. There’s a good chance that some of these bits (and the deleted scenes from the DVD) were struck because of time or tempo. I think some of them — like Barton asking Garland about the Bible — were deemed unnecessary.
Or maybe (just maybe) the Coen Brothers wanted to see if they could sucker some foolish nerd into wasting oodles of time analyzing tiny differences between written and filmed versions of their story.
Silent upon a hill in Darien!
