Movies from the Heart—Dave

In the U.S. we’ve been living through a lot with the politics that seem to be dividing us more often than uniting us. And I’m not sure we have a clue as to what really goes on in the White House or many other branches of government. So the realm of the political is a promising place to set a film in, and those films become great fodder for discussion and analysis.

Dave [1993] by Gary Ross is one of those films.

The premise is simple. Dave is just a guy who impersonates the president for the odd supermarket opening or something—he does it in his community just for the fun of it. So when the secret service approaches him to do it for real, he’s stunned. They tell him that they need a double for functions that the president needs to appear at but that aren’t that important. And having a lookalike show up and wave to the crowds frees the president to do the serious work of governing.

So Dave leaves his small town and heads to Washington. And he has fun with it.

Take a look at a trailer for the film.

It’s a fun film, but it has a serious undertone as well. Because when President Mitchell becomes ill they ask Dave to fill in. He’s supposed to now pretend to BE the president. And they convince him this is his patriotic duty.

And in the process of taking on the president’s persona, he meets the first lady, Ellen Mitchell. He learns very quickly that the president and Ellen hardly speak to one another. And he’s told by the secret service that he’s not allowed to reveal to her that he’s an imposter—that it’s a matter of national security.

So what you have is an ordinary guy trying to help out his country—who falls for the wife of the man he’s impersonating.

It’s an unlikely romance. He’s small-town ordinary in many ways, and she’s big city important. He’s down to earth and, eventually, he brings her down to earth with him.

One of the joys of watching their romance is to see two people from completely different worlds come together. And as a writer, you can have a lot of fun with that. Give yourself this exercise: come up with five romantic pairings where the couple are just SO unlikely to be right for each other. For example, a New York City ballerina and a small-town guy who starts an ice cream shop. Or a terrorist and a schoolteacher. You can go in SO many different directions with this and after brainstorming a few ideas you might just come up with one you’d like to turn into a screenplay!

Next week let’s look at a very unlikely pairing in Some Like it Hot.

Copyright © Diane Lake

15Dec24

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