MovieChat Forums > Days of Heaven (1978) Discussion > narration was all improvised

narration was all improvised

posted 13 years ago by EJF
9 replies | jump to latest

In a recent interview with the Village Voice, Linda Manz reveals that her voice-over narration was completely unscripted. When Malick couldn't piece together the film the way he wanted, he came up with the idea of using narration as a connecting thread:

“This was later on: They took me into a voice recording studio,” remembers Manz. “No script, nothing, I just watched the movie and rambled on . . . I dunno, they took whatever dialogue they liked.” Laid over the images, these extemporaneous monologues abut God, the Devil, and some kid named Ding Dong (“I just made that up”) gave the movie its perspective —- and a surreal humor Malick never matched.

[–] GuyOnTheLeft 12 years ago

I love this, and it makes sense--I thought as I listened to it that if it was actually scripted, it was by the most genius scriptwriter ever to walk the earth.

Makes you wonder what a character like Manz was doing acting!

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] EJF 11 years ago

Well, as many reviewers have noted, this film was less about plot, dialogue and characterization than cinematography, which was breathtaking.

IMHO, though, this is the only one of Malick's films in which voice-over narration, which has now become his annoying trademark, actually works -- because it's done by just one character and tries to move the film along instead of being some abstract philosophical musings. (OK, maybe Badlands works, too.)

[–] nhomonko 11 years ago

Actually it's done by 2 people.

[–] spookyrat1 11 years ago

It adds some humour and a degree of fun to a film that some might argue would lack those commodities otherwise.

[–] DracTarashV 12 years ago

Though her character didn't serve much of a purpose (aside from narrating the film), I still found her to be the most intriguing person in the film for some reason.

Living in the sixth dimension. Things get rough.

[–] MelancholyPonyAndTheCircusBoy 11 years ago

I thought the narration was amazing especially how it was delivered, Linda just sounds so bored and totally interested at the same time. Didn't know it was improvised though.

[–] 11 years ago

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