Dragonfly script

Last week, the Los Angeles Times had an article about script doctors; not only do directors have them, but actors and actresses do, too. But I digress. Part of the article talks about Tom Shadyac. Shadyac is known for very loud, obnoxious and successful comedies, usually with Jim Carrey. He has a rewrite man, Steve Oedekerk. Anyway, the LA Times article ends like this: Sometimes the biggest mistake a director or actor can make is not calling in his rewrite guy. Shadyac says he didn't show Oedekerk "Dragonfly," one of the director's rare flops, until after the film was finished. "I wished," Shadyac says, "we had invited him earlier."

Now, "Dragonfly," we will all recall, is not a loud, obnoxious comedy; it's a quiet, subtle thriller starring KC, with a script originally written by Mike Thompson and Brandon Camp. Also, their original script did not look like what the film finally came out to be. There were a couple of subplots that got taken out, either in the filming or the editing. Here's a link to the review of the script that KC likely saw while he was lying on his couch. He loves subplots:

http://www.tnmc.org/dp/0404011.shtml

So, what happened to that script, which I think is better than what wound up being filmed? Perhaps Mr. Shadyac already played script doctor, possibly because Universal Studios leaned on him for a movie of less than 2 hours, possibly because he had to learn how to film a drama. Or, perhaps his bosses told him to emphasize the thriller portion. We already know that some scenes that were filmed were cut out of the movie. I believe there were also some complaints from Mr. Thompson and Mr. Camp after the movie came out that their script had been sliced. I think it's a good movie, with terrific performances from KC and the rest of the cast, but it still could have been so much better.