I started this thread in "Screenwriting" because I wonder if this reportedly-real quote would be believable in a script.
It's from Maureen Dowd's recent column in the NY Times:
Indeed, it seems just so perfect that, if I were writing seriously on that same subject, despite the fact that Manzetti (who wrote the book from which Dowd quoted) is a NY Times reporter, I'd feel compelled to ask Dearlove if he really did say that. And if so, whether he said it in a self-mocking way; or as the kids (and Madonna) say today, "ironic".
So, 2 questions.
Do Brits (still) really talk like this?
Even if Brits really do - Would that seem believable as dialogue, especially in a non-comedy?
It's from Maureen Dowd's recent column in the NY Times:
Mazzetti writes that Sir Richard Dearlove, the head of MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service, watched one of the first drone strikes via satellite at Langley a few weeks after 9/11. As he saw a Mitsubishi truck in Afghanistan being blown up, Dearlove smiled wryly. “It almost isn’t sporting, is it?” the Brit asked.
That sounds like vintage (i.e., ancient) Terry Thomas (for example). In other words, to my American ears, it just sounds too central-casting perfect. Indeed, it seems just so perfect that, if I were writing seriously on that same subject, despite the fact that Manzetti (who wrote the book from which Dowd quoted) is a NY Times reporter, I'd feel compelled to ask Dearlove if he really did say that. And if so, whether he said it in a self-mocking way; or as the kids (and Madonna) say today, "ironic".
So, 2 questions.
Do Brits (still) really talk like this?
Even if Brits really do - Would that seem believable as dialogue, especially in a non-comedy?
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