Reading through the Naked In New York script is such an insane experience because in theory this movie wasn’t even all that bad they just executed everybody’s characters TERRIBLY. Also so many scenes and lines they got rid of were just??? So fucking hilarious?? This movie would’ve been the perfect comedy why did they end up being so serious with it.
Anyways, there’s a line in the script during the scene where Chris calls Jake from New York and he says “it would just be better if you were here.” And it drives me so insane because if you interpret their dynamic in the way that the play symbolizes their friendship and how they see each other oh it drives me NUTS.
Because, to Chris, the play (his life, his stability, their friendship) doesn’t work without Jake. He’s dependent on him, while Jake either doesn’t care about the play (again, their friendship) enough to make it work, or to him the play is able to work fine without him. And he doesn’t realize that everything falls apart without him (Dana and Carl firing him)
And they play into this even more during the scene when Chris first leaves to New York.
Their asses are NOT talking about the play.
Jake is trying to move on, mature, grow up when he doesn’t have to. Chris is trying to hold on to the past and his youth for the sake of their friendship. Jake wants to grow up quicker, and Chris refuses to.
Literally all I’m hearing right now is
“I’m working on my new life.”
“What new life? We have our old life.”
Call me crazy and delusional all you want but I’m right. Even in the movie, when reading this new play he says “it’s not as good as the old stuff” That Chris is constantly holding onto the version of Jake that actually cared about him and their friendship and the promises they made to each other, and he’s not ready to let that go. And that makes the like “I just don’t think you’re reading what’s being written” so much more crazier especially considering he’s literally writing a play about his life. And Chris just wants him to look down at the pages he’s writing and recognize what Chris really wanted from him. A friend. Somebody he could consistently count on without him leaving him in the dust time and time again.
And in that very scene in the script, all Jake says is that he doesn’t need Jake to give him grief. Showing once again he doesn’t take anything Chris asks of him or tells him to heart and he just brushes it off as him being dramatic or pushy.
Another thing I noticed in the script was that each time Joanne and Jake spoke on the phone, they never failed to bring up Chris. Some times it was more vague than others but regardless, they always seemed to bring him up. Joanne’s entire character is soo interesting in the script but that’s another rant for another post.