#I wish they'd filmed it!!!

[chateau-dilf]

LCDMC Script: The Count, Fernand and Opium

Out of all the cut material from the script there were only two subplots: Maximilien's involvement and the Count introducing Fernand to opium as a cure for his headaches. The latter is by far the largest cut, and the most devastating for myself as Fernand is my favourite. His absence or lack of involvement in the films middle section is noticeable, and I'd also wondered why he's so silent during many of the scenes he's in, lo and behond he had many of his lines cut. But I'll focus on the opium for now as it's an entire character arc we didn't get to see, and really could have benefitted a character who is supposed to hold significance, especially as the final showdown is between him and Edmond.

The opium plot begins, as we see in the film, with Fernand experiencing a headache as he leaves the Count's house, attributed to a 'metal souvenir'. He leaves in a hurry, which the Count later brings up in our first cut scene, which was connected to the poker game:

Fernand experiences another headache at the table, leaves, and the Count follows, helping him with his ether in a move described as having a "strange intimacy." I would have loved to have seen this, the power dynamics at play are excellent - Fernand is vulnerable and insecure (so unlike his arrogant younger self,) the Count's gesture is non-judgemental and kind as he offers him a "miraculous cure." Of course this is all part of his plan, yet there's something to be said about the image of a man smothering the mouth and nose of his vulnerable enemy with cloth and not hurting him, rather helping him. The intimacy is fascinating - here are two men who grew up together, the betrayer and the betrayed, yet when you spend the first 22 years of your life together some part of that intimacy must live on, as much as you might wish it didn't, even if you don't realise it. I would have loved to see Fernand vulnerable like this, too. It adds a layer to his post timeskip character that he could have really benefitted from.

Fernand takes the count up on this offer, arriving at his house in a scene which took place after Haydée talks to Edmond about her trip to the gardens with Albert.

The cure, it turns out, is opium, and the Count leads Fernand to an opium den within the house. We have a vague idea of what this scene would have looked like from this image shared by Pierre Niney on Instagram:

The scene in its entirety:

Ross and I have analysed at length the few lines Fernand has prior to Edmond's arrest and how he absolutely felt superior to Edmond and that he (as part of the Morcerf family) is responsible for Edmond's success and therefore Edmond is forever in debt to him in his eyes. It's either impressive that they still got that feeling across with what they kept, or we think way too hard about these men, or both, but our suspicions were absolutely confirmed by Fernand's dream-memories and the way he speaks to dream-Edmond. I don't believe he ever thought Edmond was even a potential threat to his (at that point entirely nonexistent) romance with Mercédès because he did not even consider Edmond could be on the same playing field.

What's most interesting to me is this dream sequence is in Fernand's mind - it's likely he's had these dreams or thoughts so many times and this is what he tells himself: that Edmond had no right, Edmond betrayed him, it's Edmond's fault, he should have stayed in his place, he wouldn't have made Mercédès happy. Alongside this, he imagines Edmond asking him why he did it and saying he would have given his life for Fernand. It's regret and grief for a friend mixed with extreme entitlement, which ultimately wins.

The scene is quite exposition heavy in a way the film generally isn't, but the majority of the script is the same. They cut back exposition everywhere, so I believe they could have made this scene work and I wish they had. If nothing else, it would have been very fun to see the Count throttle the guy - again, there's an intense intimacy between them, with Fernand once again entirely vulnerable and this time the Count does take advantage of that. We see Edmond wasn't as ready as he thought he was to hear Fernand say such things, and the pure rush of emotion takes over. Equally, I can see why this might have had the potential to feel awkward within the narrative with the Count displaying violence towards an enemy during the middle section as opposed to the climax, however I think we do miss something by not allowing Fernand a scene with such a significance, and the dream exchange between the men is fascinating.

Furthering the intimacy, the opium plot steers us towards a world wherein the two men harbour an old (if imbalanced) care for each other which can neither be completely destroyed nor returned to. Their dialogue leading up to the final duel was intended to follow along these lines:

In the film, we have Edmond tell Fernand "You should have killed me," with Fernand replying "It's never too late." But here the thread of friendship is continued with dialogue of a very different sentiment, immediately juxtaposed by brutal fighting. Edmond's statement that he could have died for Fernand entirely backs up what Fernand imagined dream-Edmond to have felt ("I would have given my life for you.") Fernand rushing towards Edmond would have also mirrored dream-Edmond rushing at him.

The description of Fernand running up the stairs "four at a time" was also used earlier when Fernand was running to Villefort's office to save Edmond.

I am glad the wolves were removed from this scene however, it strips him back to just Edmond, who is now threatening enough on his own without the mask and character of the Count. It's a much more powerful image to see him descend the stairs alone and it's a real testament to how much he's changed.

Finally, after the duel, rather than cutting straight to Mercédès at the church, we were going to be shown the fate of the three villains:

Villefort and Danglars are entirely expected (the former can't exactly go anywhere else...) but Fernand's fate is interesting - rather than having him kill himself as he does in the book, he seems to be reliant on opium, presumably living in his memories now he is alone and disgraced.

The mention of him not wearing his eyepatch could be interpreted in a few ways, but I think this was intended to show his lack of care for his own honour and dignity, why should he care when everything's already lost? It's the cruellest fate of all for a man with such entitlement and complexes of superiority and heroism, and it's entirely deserved.

However, it should be said that a depiction of a disabled, drug addicted villain would have carried ableist connotations and overall I'm glad we didn't see what happened to him or Danglars (though there does exist a photo of the latter.)

It's impossible to estimate how much of this was even filmed, and it's unfortunately unlikely we'll ever know. We know Fernand did not leave the poker table, but we also have an image of Edmond attacking him in the opium den. My best guess would be that the decision was made some time during filming to allow either last minute changes to the script or reshoots of necessary scenes, rather than a whole cut during editing.

I'll save the rest of Fernand's cut content for another post, but the opium plot was the most significant loss and I think it's felt in how unfortunately action-less and hollow Fernand can feel at times in ways other characters don't.

[chaoticladyfire]

Twin bitches.

[musicalgifs]

i didn't think this was gonna be my highlight but i really really liked the way the wicked movie did something bad

[starxdusk]

I just like drawing Uta in tons of different outfits? Be it other (favorite) characters outfits or previous arcs inspired outfits! She deserves all of this!

As for Uta wearing Enel's outfit... a more accurate (less sfw version) under read more. (You've been warned!)

[dangerliesbeforeyou]

the league of gentlemen are cowards for not having herr lipp (or any of the other characters tbf) flirt w/ reece or mark whilst they were wearing those suits in the film honestly lol...

[clumsycapitolunicorn]

If Ted and Rebecca were never meant to be, then I want to know why Jason made the choices he did with certain things. Because they ended up pointing towards them. We didn't just make this up.

How on earth did he not think that we would think something was there, with Ted pulling out the green matchbook that connects to Rebecca's psychic prediction and Rebecca pulling out the green army man out of the green matchbook... Surely he had to know how that would look? I know he had to. He went out of his way to do a fake out scene at the beginning, that was the first thing we got after that the truth bomb ending. Plus, Rebecca's prediction plot still had to finish. There was only one ep left. How are we ridiculous for thinking that was where it was going? Plus, Rebecca was heartbroken about him leaving! She wanted him to stay and was thinking of solutions for him to stay.

They gave boatman barely 20 minutes of screen time with Rebecca, have Rebecca mention him once next ep, then nothing... Then he shows up last minute and that's it. We have to find out his freaking name from the credits.

Don't get me wrong, I loved that he made her laugh and so happy, but they could've brought him up more than just have him show up half way through and not have him show up until the end, to complete Rebecca's plot. It felt rushed. Combine that with what they did that made us think it was Ted, it just felt not as satisfying all round. I would've loved that ending if they'd actually done more and not had me hoping for Ted and Rebecca at the same time.

I don't know, there was so much potential for an outcome of either if they'd done it right..

[thesporkidentity]

started reading wheel of time again from the beginning (i swear i'll finish this time, i'm gonna do it!) and oh, it's so good to see mat again after what they did to his characterization in the show. like. it's my boyyyyyy! i missed you!!!! i am kissing your sweet little trouble maker cheeks my darling <3

[novuit]

Just came back from BBC and holy shit it was so cool. Both the radio and TV news presenters get given a bulletin of news and actually write the news script themselves and edit it to fit their speech. The TV presenter also has this pedal so she can control the prompt monitor hersel; I really thought the prompt screen was automatic. I also got to see the archives (which I was really excited about) and the food was really good! They had sanpellogrino which was very fancy and ofc, I drank like 4 cans of it lol. There was also this guy whom works for Scott Mills as a producer which was an honour and also met this tv director who had this like a VERY posh voice, a complete polar opposite to the radio people whom were very casual, very un-posh lmao. I even got a bunch of radio/tv tips from the presenters personally which was very helpful :)

A very important question I asked was what happened to Gus Honeybun (he's basically this funky bunny puppet whom reads out people's birthdays, it was from basically all Gen X/boomers' childhoods from the west country), unfortunately, the poor lad was sacked but they keep him in a local archive centre. It was a question my foster mother had requested and of course I couldn't waste an opportunity like this.

They all also really liked the fact that I'm into history and latin so they gave me connections to these archive centres and they're going to see if I can go into Exeter Cathedral's library to see the Exeter Book in person which I'm really joyed about because I fucking love the Exeter Book (and really old books in general but OH MY GODDDDD..... Maybe if I could also see the other medieval books and manuscripts... Perhaps in medicine for my history gcses mweheheh)

[paintsplash1712]

Netflix just dropped the whole Nimona movie on YouTube!

I repeat NIMONA'S ON YOUTUBE FOR FREE!

[josefinemarch]

started rewatching ted lasso. man i miss that show

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

I'm as sceptical of Tom Brevoort's X-Men reboot as everyone else, but can't we wait until the issues or out or we at least know who the creators are before denouncing it as a total dumpsters fire?

I get the concern. Brevoort's record at Marvel is inconsistent at best. He oversaw Hickman's FF and Avengers, Ryan North's FF, Ewing's Ultimates, Gillen and Ribić's Eternals, and events like Secret Wars and Judgement Day. He also oversaw Slott on FF, Aaron on Avengers, and events like Civil War II and Secret Empire.

But as patchy as that record is, I'm just counting my lucky stars that it wasn't Nick Lowe taking over.

[ahaura]

ok. ive watched a lot of horror n some tragedy im watching a romcom or something tomorrow

[3gremlins]

i am pretty far removed/done with borderlands as a franchise at this point but having seen some clips of the movie it makes me sad they didn't go for more of the "cel shade"* aesthetic (or SOMETHING)

none of the costumes look lived in at all? idk it feels strangely awkward (my latent borderlands cosplay brain is also like FAM WHERE ARE YOUR FACE LINES lol it just looks wrong).

like it didn't have to be like cosplayers do it exactly, but i wish they'd let some whimsy in with the interpretation (or if you're not going to embrace a style, then go in the other direction b/c bright red hair and no whimsy doesn't really work either)

*yes yes we all know this isn't really what cel-shading is but that's how it's come to be known, yall know what im talking about

[theskoomacat]

if they went for t'polcher instead of t'rip none of this would have happened

[aurumacadicus]

I’m sorry but the announcement post that says “anything with Tony’s ass and teeth” (or whatever that you said that was close) just made me think of Tony’s Ass Teeth Film AU and I’m now traumatized

You’re like the second person to tell me this. I very clearly said “someone take a bite of Tony’s ass” and “teeth meet Tony’s perky butt.” I can’t help that you watched the cult horror-comedy Teeth (2007) and it stuck with you.

[jellogram]

I heard so many people call Lamb (2021) a "wtf movie" or a "mindfuck" or just that it's generally weird and confusing and I just... no it's not? Like I don't think I'm very good at following plots but this was very straightforward. It's about a couple whose grief causes them to get mixed up in folklore. It's a changeling story from the perspective of the thieves. Come on now, like four things happened in the entire film, you cannot call that mindfuck be real