Maybe someone has already commented on this, but here goes anyway... One interesting thing about this opening is the way it reads and plays theoretically, and the way it plays in the theatre. When you read the script (and if you imagine watching the movie without knowing anything about it) it's crystal clear that the intent is to give you a big story turn when Whip appears with his uniform on. In the opening, when he's drunk and doing coke we don't know he's a pilot. Even when Trina says "our flight's at 9" the natural assumption is they're passengers. And then BANG, cut to Whip walking up to the plane, still drunk and coked up, being greeted by Trina in her attendant's uniform. What a great moment. And it was, if you read the script cold - it made you sit up in your seat. But it couldn't play in the movie, because there was no way of doing a publicity campaign without giving away the fact that Denzel Washington was playing a pilot. So all through that first scene with Whip you already know he's a pilot and it plays completely differently. This isn't a complaint about the publicity - that trailer was one of the greats, and the central reason I went to see the movie. But when you write a great character intro like that - where you hide some major part of your main character only to reveal it in the next scene - you have to keep in mind that it might help sell the script, but it's not going to play that way on the screen - and it's nobody's fault. Everyone's doing their job right. There are, of course, other cases when the job is done just plain wrong... Chris McQuarrie tells a great, great story about how the original "Usual Suspects" campaign was a poster that said "Who is Keyser Soze?" and he wanted to KILL the publicity department, because the whole trick of the movie is to keep the audience from asking that question until as late as possible. Fortunately, he said, the budget for publicity was only about ten cents, so no one ever saw it.

Hey Markham....That was a great catch. Unique openings are always emphasized in screenwriting education on how to attach "A" list talent to a script and I would not be surprised if DW caught the same opening which you did. He has read his share of all type of scripts. Of course, publicity and selling a movie is a double edge sword: consumers have to be attracted to advertising-posters, titles, trailers, in order to decide how to spend disposable income. (They also gave away the upside down landing) The surprise that Whip is a pilot is a great moment. I will start looking for those moments more often. Interested in other comments...

Markham, that's an interesting insight in comparing script to screen. And it illustrates how sometimes, the script can be a more compelling story-experience precisely BECAUSE how marketing a movie can give away so/too much. Fortunately as writers, we don't have to worry about that, at least in the selling script stage. Once the movie goes into production, then into the marketing phase, it's out of our hands. But the odd thing is no matter how things may shift from the script to the actual film version, the script has a life of its own in Hollywood's development circles. For example, you want to start a lively discussion among pro screenwriters? Ask them about original David Franzoni script for Gladiator compared to what was shot. Not that the movie was bad -- it won some Oscars. It's just that screenwriters and probably many development execs revere Franzoni's original draft. Granted it's a tiny corner of the entertainment universe, but still it's a good thing to know scripts can live on in the development community even if they get changed significantly during production and post. Circling back to your point, not that Flight's opening changed all that much, however as you note, the surprise of discovering Whip being a pilot is a tasty story twist which simply could not get played out in the movie.

Marc, your point is well taken: Actors like Denzel Washington probably have stacks of scripts, each with offers attached. So what differentiates a script they choose to do and one they don't? A zillion variables, obviously, but you are right that a strong opening / introduction of a character can go a long way toward eliciting a positive response from talent. In thinking about it, I've probably read or heard dozens of interviews with name actors who said something to the effect, "After I read that opening scene, I knew then and there I wanted to do this movie." So a good takeaway from the discussion even at this early juncture: Create a memorable and compelling way to introduce your story's Protagonist.

Let me broach two subjects arising from the script. First, I find it fascinating that the biggest, boldest, most cinematic scenes in the movie happen in Act One. That flies completely in the face of so-called conventional wisdom which is everything builds toward a big third Act. However if we shift our perspective two ticks and look at the story for what it is -- a character study -- even though the big action sequence with the airplane happens within the first 30 or so pages of the script, the narrative STILL builds toward a dramatic ending. The entire story post-airplane crash poses this question: Will Whip get away with it? Yes, he was a hero in safely landing the plane against enormous odds. And yet, he is a man deep in Disunity, witness his addictions and failed domestic relationships. There is a possibility he could get away Scott free. That's the dramatic question underlying the narrative from the beginning of Act Two on. So the Final Struggle, which takes place from 137-146 at the hearing, is the culmination point of that question. For this to work, the story focusing on Whip's psychological journey has to become as compelling or even more than the events of the first act. It is a bold choice. And I would say it works. Second thing: Think about the movie's title - Flight. Now think about how many ways it works as a theme for the narrative. I don't want to tip my hand too much for Thursday's conversation, but I have to believe the MULTIPLE LEVELS at which flight works as a metaphor are what help to elevate this drama. What reactions did you have when reading the script for Flight? It's a fascinating character study.