Is this film scene too offensive to spoof?

Hey guys, so I'm taking this class called directing workshop and the whole point of the class is to take a scene from a film and direct it. But in a "different context" so to speak. Anyways, I chose the Sicilian scene from True Romance (Awesome movie, btw) between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper. For those of you who haven't seen it, the scene contains a lot of profanity. However, I feel the profanity is the least of my problems. Ugh. Here. Watch.

[Mod Edit: Video removed. I don't know if it's too offensive to spoof, but we don't allow this sort of racist language here.]

So...Yeah. To make it worse my film teacher said "How would you pitch this scene to a room full of black people?" The thing is, I feel if I take the 'N word out, the scene loses its' purpose. Because the whole point is for Hopper to piss off Walken's character before he dies. I don't know what to do, should I change the script or leave it?

Have you tried asking your professor if it's ok?

Yeah. He seems to be okay with it so far but he said I still need to take some out. I'm trying to decide if I really want to though.

I dunno, man. If you're worried about it and it's causing "problems" then you have millions of other options.

It's just a class project, doesn't need to be some sort of statement. I'm not offended or anything, but I'd say just do something simpler for a college course.

@csl316: You do have a point. However, the actors want to use the film for their reels, so I need to make sure that I do the best job I can. I think I will shorten it. Maybe if I do that there won't be problems.

No. It's all in the subtext and that scene is all about the amazing acting by Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken.

The reason I think you may not be able to pull it off is because you can't afford actors who understand why that scene is so amazing. These days, actually, there aren't many actors that pull off a scene in both dialogue and subtext.

Another great example of subtext being important to a scene is the scene from Way of the gun when Benicio Del Toro and James Caan meet for the first time in that diner I think it was.

I would post a video, but I cant find that scene on youtube. It's so good, though.

But no, the dialogue of that scene isn't what will be a problem for you.

Edit: if they ask you to remove any of that dialogue they are terrible at their job and probably shouldn't be teaching anything about film. Of course, that's my opinion: I am not a fan of most teachers.

Exactly what I was going to write. This scene only works because of the writing, and the brilliant performances.

But that leads me to another question, OP; the "direction" in this scene is very, very simple, just as it should be, so why did you pick this to re-direct.

Maybe you have a brilliant concept, but I'm a filmmaker (mostly animation) myself, and can't think of anything to change or add that would improve that scene. I think that you might not come off as supporting racism, you just might come off as lazy.

And about the whole profanity thing, consider how this scene appears to someone out of context with the rest of the movie. Having seen True Romance, we already know that Hopper's character is a nice guy. We see his shitty trailer in the middle of nowhere. We know that Clarence shows up having disappeared for years, and rather than being mad, his father is supportive, and even offers him money we know he doesn't have. He seems like a humble pushover. So in that context, his transformation to this overly confident accuser when faced with certain death is intriguing. Out of context, he's a white dude saying "the N word" a lot.

Pick a different scene.

Please don't post that word. Regardless of the fact that you're quoting it, we really don't need it here.

@chaser324: Are we going get a post about the new moderation policies soon? I try as hard as I can to follow the forum rules, but for the years I've posted here, using "that word" when it wasn't directed at anyone was never a problem. If it is now, it would be good to let all the users know so that in the future we can choose our words appropriately.

@joshwent: Our policies prohibiting that sort of potentially racist language are not new. In cases where it clearly wasn't intended with malice, we try to be lenient, but we do still prohibit it regardless of context and have for a very long time. If you have any further questions regarding a particular aspect of the rules, feel free to send us a PM.

Make it about aliens. I'm talking about a sci-fi re-imagining. Instead of _____ and Sicilians, make it about Vrogdorfs and Slognarfs. Everyone will get a kick out of it.

Unless they don't.

Uh, So anyway, if you're still debating if you should use that scene from True Romance: I edited together the scene from Way of the Gun so you can see what I mean from earlier. I don't know how useful this scene is to you, though, as it's interspersed (in the film) with other stuff going on, but I edited it down to mainly just Benicio Del Toro and James Caan. It's just a good example of subtext, with much more toned down dialogue (and it's a little more subtle in it's approach).

I left in a couple of other small moments for context, but I think this is another great example of subtext and it doesn't use any racist type language.

Re-enact Mississippi Burning in front of the class in its entirety while blatantly ignoring any walk-outs or attempts at intervention from your professor or classmates. Post video here.

I love True Romance. It's up there in my top 20 movies of all time list. It's such an endearing film. As for "that" scene you're trying to spoof, that may be a bit much even for college (not sure if this is for college or high school). If you do it, be prepared to possibly offend and piss off some folks.

If you're going to "spoof" that scene, you should be changing the dialog anyway, or something about the context or characters. How about trying to come up with a similar analogy that would apply to Disney characters, or something. Don't make it about race, make it about the genetic makeup of some unrelated character changing due to another type of character taking over their land and breeding with their population. I can't put my finger on something that would work, but if you can find it, that would be a parody.

This is a good example of a properly done parody: