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Scrooge 2
🕑 Added 2024-12-14 16:57:04 +0000 UTCIn February of 1985, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas met at Spielberg's Office on the Universal Studios lot to discuss the possibility of a sequel to "A Christmas Carol." The previous year George C. Scott's version had been a big hit and Universal was looking for a big tent pole holiday blockbuster.
The following is an edited transcript of the audio recording of their brainstorming session.
S: Is it the next Christmas or sooner after the last one?
L: It should be sooner. But we'd want at least some of the story to span over Christmas.
S: Right. You need snow, mistletoe... urchins caroling...
L: To be clear, we're talking a proper sequel here. Not a remake, or a prequel.
S: Sequel. Probably. At this point, I don't know. What's interesting to me is: did Scrooge change or was Christmas morning a temporary bout of positive...
L: A little temporary insanity [both laugh]
S: You want to see the possibility of Scrooge falling back into his old ways.
L: Maybe it IS a prequel.
S: But the original already has a prequel nested inside of it, right?
L: Right. But in that sense, it's got the sequel in there as well...
S: A potential sequel.
L: I've always seen A Christmas Carol as a sci fi story.
S: It's a ghost story, no?
L: Yea, but also there's time travel.
S: It's a morality play... it's a fable.
L: As is the best science fiction.
S: I don't think Universal wants a picture that reminds the audience that change is actually NOT possible.
L: No, but it might allow for the threat of that... there's the tension. The risk of sliding back into our old ways.
S: Yes. He has to reset to happy Scrooge somehow.
L: Are they committed to George [C. Scott] ? Or is in open field? I mean.... Nicholson? Brando...
S: I think he's gotta be a Brit... unless we're committed to George, but I don't think we are.
L: Someone like Richard Burton, but alive.
S: Right. Olivier. In the nightcap and bi-focals...
L: So it's let's say, a month after the incident. Cratchit is at his desk and Scrooge comes in and he's... in a mood...
S: We should see the possible downside of Scrooge's charity?
L: Ooh like it was Scrooge's ruthlessness that kept them afloat.
S: Peace through strength. Very Reagan. Very now, George. [both laugh]
L: Really though... Maybe it's what Cratchit needs. Some discipline. Some leadership.
S: This sounds like "The Enemy Within," where Kirk splits into two men: one "good," but indecisive and ineffectual; the other "evil," impulsive and irrational.
L: Right. Hang on, what if... this is good, ok... what if... Tiny Tim, despite everything Scrooge did in those first few months... died anyway...
S: Shit. [They both laugh] Scrooge is embittered and sees that despite his behavior, time is fixed.
L: Truly, I'm not sure what 1840's medicine... even with Scrooge's resources is gonna do for Tiny...
S: Right.
L: Scrooge is now rapt with doubt, he's questioning everything... His business is failing....
S: What the hell did Scrooge & Marley do anyway...
L: Some kind of 19th century money lending operation?
S: Doesn't matter. He's in crisis. Do the ghosts come back?
L: It's a sequel. They have to I think. The audience will be expecting it.
S: Right. Or are they new ghosts?
L: Ghosts of...
S: Tiny...
L: Tiny comes back? He has to.
S: Scrooge feels betrayed by the ghosts...
L: Maybe Tiny takes Scrooge to the ghosts... They aren't expecting him.
S: I could see that. Sort of a dark world, a hidden realm. A big confrontation. Scrooge vs. the ghosts.
L: It could work.
S: It could also be completely ridiculous.
L: It could slide into silly territory.
S: Which we don't want.
L: No.
S: What if Scrooge dies and haunts Cratchit, who's turned into a real... Scrooge.
L: That's a bit of a time jump. That's the cheap version isn't it?
S: This is the problem with sequels I think. It's tricky. At that point, you might just want to wait a few years and do the remake.
[end of transcript]
Comments
Kyle
Are you bipolar?
Branleigh
Loni Anderson
Chalameybe
makes your heart grow. sorry , I was angry at a political event and a sour roulette round. I feel like sometimes im the scrooge and i dont realize it. two scrooges may not make a right, but they have all night to make as many wrongs as they can. joke for you, kyle: what did the third scrooge say to the two other scrooges as they got into character, removed their clothes, and practiced their bill murrays? "dont worry, guys, i'm a grinch but I got a wax before coming here for the afterparty. the password is fidelio, and I brought a pillowcase full of green hair to prove it." (not my joke, warm tidings from my neck of the woods)
Kyle
Yes this is exactly what i was thinking
Chalameybe
Fuck Hollywood and fuck those Whos. I hope Scrooge rolls their heads down the streets of those quaint little hamlets where they stash that potent Who Hash that makes your heat grow.
Chalameybe
I love it, and Scrooge sounds refreshingly vulnerable. Would love to see him fight Jacob Marley and his brother Damien in Jamrock maybe. Scrooge would pair well with a grinch (not The Grinch of course). Do a tasteful Mathau / Lemmon limited series with Kutcher / William Scott maybe. Call it Humbuggin' and have Matthew Lillard off-leash and tackling all ghost roles in a nod to Murphy's Klump IP. I get it, so the ghosts live together in the same timezone, in a hidden realm, but they 'work' in their respective tenses? I already have a headache, but Kutcher aced Butterfly Effect and I have full confidence in Stiffler. Lillard/Kutcher/Sean William-Scott? Quotes: "Dude, where's my jaw? Oh right, the floor!"
Kyle
Brando, the Scrooge we never got. Fuck hollywood.
Mary Newman
Just like the discussion/debate with Gregg in the Summer Movie Recap : )
Devon Summers
I choose to believe this is real.
Will
an artful dodger/ top cat situation but all ghosts could be good
lilula9
This whole time I've been thinking of my favorite sci-fi Scrooge 2, the ITYSL sketch with Scrooge in the way-future. judging from this transcript gifted to us from the great Phil Braun, there's so much potential for a classic. Someone please do it--I want to scream "THE BONIIEEES!" in unison with an audience so badly🥺 also Ghost of Tiny is my new favorite nickname now
Tuna Can
Who would play Marilyn Monroe?
Josh Parsons
Congratulations Phil Braun on this bombshell discovery and your generosity sharing this with the world.
Gary Vaughn
I don't know that I'd ever watch this movie, but it's fascinating to read what these two titans of film came up with in a matter of minutes.
Geoffrey Thomas
If Tiny Tim is a ghost, then there has to be a gang of street urchin ghosts, as well.
jimi wiz
Hahahaha
Phil Braun
I don’t know I wouldn’t put it past Lucas & Spielberg that they maybe come up with something
Tim Heidecker
Do you think universal wants a presidential assassination plot in the middle of their Christmas movie?
Phil Braun
Scrooge could appear in the middle of the night and take JFK on a journey through time that would show him why it would be unwise to go on that parade in a convertible
Melissa
If they're smart they'll cast Kermit the Frog as Cratchit
Paul Berry
#teamtiny
Tuna Can
How would he prevent the JFK assassination?
Colin
Tiny Tim ghost is brilliant.
Phil Braun
Very interesting. I like the idea of Scrooge becoming a ghost - he’d be able to time travel anywhere theoretically. Maybe prevents the JFK assassination (which happened just before Thanksgiving, a Christmas-adjacent holiday) as an idea.
