§ RESOURCES / FILM INDEX

As Good as It Gets (1997)

Featured In

DZ-3: Making Unlikeable Protagonists Compelling

How do you keep an audience watching a character everyone in the film hates?

AI✦Breaks down how to swing an audience between finding a character repulsive and finding him funny--then use that oscillation to make them care about someone genuinely difficult to like.✦

⏱ 1h 20m

30 MAR 2014

Character · Structure · Audience

Listen if you want to make audiences care about deeply flawed protagonists!

▶ More Info

Stu and Chas tackle the first 20 pages of HOT FUZZ, AS GOOD AS IT GETS and GROUNDHOG DAY and try to work out what stops these a-holes protoganist from pushing the audience out of the movie… →

Films: Hot Fuzz (2007) , As Good as It Gets (1997) , Groundhog Day (1993) , Gran Torino (2008) , Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Character: Character Flaw , Character Wound

Structure: Dramatic Questions

Audience: Audience Sympathy

"He’s still self-interested. He wants to find out what’s wrong with her son to make up because he felt like he came dangerously close to shattering his world and shattering his routine so now he’s in my mind he’s been away not thinking about what’s wrong with her son but how can I make up for crossing the line and he doesn’t know how to do it because I still think you know he’s still incredibly self-interested and is not at this point in the film doing anything with love for her but it is a huge step from what we’ve seen 20 minutes into the film is the first time that he’s showing interest in any person other than himself even though it is ultimately for himself."

— chas | DZ-3: Making Unlikeable Protagonists Compelling