Intriguing Perspective on Bobby Twist's Paternity

[nakymaton]

There's at least one timeline error in the screenplay published in the Story-to-Screenplay book. There are two dates given for the "didn't that piss-ant use to ride bulls?" scene: the outdoor scene, where we see the outside of the business, is supposed to be 1971; the dialogue between the farmers is supposed to be 1969. (And then the whole "blue parka" scene is supposed to be 1969 as well... and while it's easy to believe in Jack wanting to get a tutor for Bobby in the early 80's (story), it's a bit of a stretch to believe that a guy who didn't graduate from high school would be getting a tutor for a three-year-old...)

IMO, nobody did a careful date-check for continuity errors. (Remember: movies are generally shot out of sequence, and from the differences between the various script drafts that are floating around, it seems that there were a great many changes to the script to develop the characters and set up symmetry, even up until the end. And this was a low-budget movie -- Focus didn't expect it to play beyond art houses, and the budget was already high given the expectations. I imagine that going back and re-shooting scenes just to fix a few dates wasn't a realistic option.)

[whiteoutofthemoon]

There have been some great replies on this thread, so thanks everyone.   However, going back to my original question....if the dates weren't intentional, then it would have to be an Ang Lee mistake, and I'm torn b/t thinking it was a strange twist to the movie, vs thinking that our master filmmaker could make such a huge error.   Then WHY go to all the trouble of making sure that the dates were clearly mentioned....why in the fireworks scene do you HAVE to announce the year, why in the rodeo scene do you HAVE to announce the month, why does he HAVE to put the date on the postcard?     Just seems those details were put in for a reason, and they wouldn't go to all that trouble if it were a mistake.   Yes, lots of storyboards.....but give these guys some credit..... timelines are one of the principal things that are followed meticulously.   

I do remember reading, though, I believe in the Time magazine article of several Oscar nom directors, that Ang said that he doesn't use storyboards.