Margaret

Kenneth Lonergan

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780802121936
• eBook ISBN: 9780802192981
• Topic: Mezzi di comunicazione e arti performative
• Subtopic: Sceneggiature per il cinema

The director's-cut screenplay of the film starring Anna Paquin from the Oscar-winning writer and director of Manchester by the Sea. This stirring drama by the Academy Award–winning director, playwright, and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan was called "a film of rare beauty and shocking gravity" by Rolling Stone. Delayed for four years in post-production, the film was finally released in 2011, with a director's cut following on DVD in 2012. This edition includes the scripts of the full director's cut, along with an introduction and key tie-in art. Margaret is the story of a Manhattan teenager whose life is profoundly altered after witnessing a terrible accident. It is the extraordinary journey of an emotional teen who abides by her moral code and wants to set things right, but whose innocent ideals come crashing against the harsh realities of the adult world. It is a story of youth, love, the consequences of mistakes, and the fundamental questions of morality as faced by a teenager in an extraordinary situation. "A triumph... the sort of ambitious American storytelling you find too rarely at the movies." — Chicago Tribune "Extraordinarily ambitious... Lonergan has as much on his mind as a contemporary novelist such as Don DeLillo or Jonathan Franzen."— Time "Arguably the most important American playwright of the last twenty years." — The New York Times

EXT. NEW YORK CITY—MIDTOWN. AUTUMN, 2002. DAY.

A crowded corner full of New Yorkers step off the curb and into the crosswalk—Before the first foot lands on the street we go to SUPER SLOW MOTION as the midday work crowd crosses the street.

EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREETS. DAY.

MONTAGE—Slow motion shots of New Yorkers, midday, all kinds, going all different ways, all over the city.

CREDITS END.

EXT. CENTRAL PARK WEST. DAY.

WIDE ON: The Central Park Reservoir and the great buildings of the Upper West Side beyond, as seen through the old chain-link fence on the opposite side of the Park.

INT. HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM. DAY.

An 11th-grade math class at the Ralph Waldo Emerson School, one of the few remaining Manhattan ’60s-inspired progressive schools. About twenty kids, mostly white secular Jewish. A sprinkling of black and Hispanic kids. The teacher, MR. AARON, late 20s, and very handsome, is returning test papers.

MR. AARON

Abrams . . . Allende . . .

One after the other the students get up to collect their tests, glance at the results, and drag themselves back to their chairs.

ON LISA COHEN, just 17. Not the best-looking girl in her class but definitely in the top five. She listens listlessly, somewhat bad-temperedly.

MR. AARON

Bernstein . . . Cohen . . .

At “Cohen” LISA gets up and heads for the desk.

LISA’S POV, closing in slowly on Mr. Aaron. He glances up as she approaches. Their eyes meet. He has a no-nonsense expression on his face. As she reaches out for her test:

LISA

Thank you, Mr. Aaron.

She walks back. On her test he’s written: B– “SEE ME!”

INT. HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM. DAY. LATER.

AFTER CLASS—The last students go out as Mr. Aaron gestures for Lisa to take a seat.

MR. AARON

Take a seat, Lisa. I just wanna talk about your test for a minute.

LISA

(Sitting)

Sure.

MR. AARON

Now . . . I know you had a little help . . .

LISA

Well—I mean—I didn’t cheat, if that’s what you mean.

MR. AARON

I’m just saying I know you had a little help.

LISA

A lot of people did.

MR. AARON

Be that as it may—

LISA

I mean, I’ll take it over again if you want, but like, what would be the point? It’s not like...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Also by Kenneth Lonergan
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Author's Note
• Cast List
• Margaret
• Acknowledgments
• Photo Insert
• Back Cover