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013 - The Lighthouse
Manage episode 476413982 series 3636511
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In this episode of The Screenplay Lab, host and screenwriter Jeff Barker takes a deep dive into the brilliantly unhinged screenplay for The Lighthouse (2019), written by Robert and Max Eggers. This A24 psychological horror film, starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, is a claustrophobic two-hander soaked in myth, madness, and maritime misery.
We explore how the Eggers brothers crafted a literary and cinematic fever dream - from unique formatting and surreal dialogue to powerful monologues, historical dialect, and deep symbolism. This script is weird in all the right ways - and there's a ton writers can learn from it.
🧠 Topics covered:
Development history & Poe inspiration
Dialogue rhythm & page formatting tricks
Character duality & identity symbolism
Cinematic writing techniques on the page
Why this screenplay is a masterclass in tension and tone
🎙️ About The Screenplay Lab: Welcome to The Screenplay Lab, where we study and appreciate screenplays as stand-alone literary works, not just blueprints for film. We deconstruct a script in each episode, uncovering what makes it unique and exploring what writers can learn.
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There are screenplay breakdowns on:
- Anora (Mikey Madison) by Sean Baker
- Nosferatu (Lily Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgard) by Robert Eggers
- Heretic (Hugh Grant) by Scott Beck and Brian Woods
- A Complete Unknown (Timothee Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning) by James Mangold
- The Substance (Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley) by Coralie Fargeat
- A Real Pain (Kieran Culkin) by Jesse Eisenberg
- Conclave (Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow) by Peter Straughan
- The Brutalist (Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce) by Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold
- Us (Lupita Nyong'o) by Jordan Peele (with Curry Barker interview)
- Babygirl (Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson) by Halina Reijn
- The Lighthouse (William Dafoe, Robert Pattinson) by Robert and Max Eggers
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