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August 18, 2010 by Betsy Bird

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Case of the Imaginary Friend

August 18, 2010 by Betsy Bird   11 comments

So I finally sat myself down and watched the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie the other day.  I felt properly prepared to do so.  I had read the review by Claire E. Gross over at Horn Book.  I had read The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary.  I was pumped.  I was ready.  So my husband and I sat down with the original book in front of us and popped in the DVD.

No one had prepared us for the invisible friend.  But I get ahead of myself.

Yes, the movie of Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a strange little mixture.  On the one hand, there is much that is admirable about it.  They actually hired kids to play kids and not 25-year-olds.  They kept referring back to the book, in an almost fearful way.  You got the sense that they understood perfectly how holy a text this was and that the only way they were going to get kids on their side would be by going back to it over and over again.  And they did something that I rather hoped for.  When I originally heard that the film was going to be live action I prayed that it would skew closer to those bizarre films of the 1980s like Better Off Dead than current and contemporary children’s films (like, say, Cats & Dogs).  To my delight, I sort of got my wish.  Like weirdo 80s films there were some animated sequences worked in there.  There were also moments of pure ridiculousness, like the just-be-yourself informational video the kids are forced to watch that makes beautiful fun of 1980s tropes and fashions.

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Unfortunately, that wonderful sequence led to one of the problems with the movie.  Hollywood just wasn’t prepared for Greg Heffley.  When Greg watches the ridiculous film he sees with a mild sneer that Rowley and Fregley have both been deeply touched.  This leads him to think to himself that he’s going to follow the film’s advice, which is an incredibly not-Greg thing to do.  The reason kids like the book is that Greg is unapologetic in his awfulness.  He’s often punished for it, but not always.  So that sequence where Greg lets Rowley take the hit for something he himself did is in the film.  And when his mother says he should “do the right thing” and he does . . . by not fessing up, that too is in the film.  But then the message is reversed entirely.  Greg confesses to the crime.  He continues to feel bad.  Hollywood cannot cope with a child that doesn’t have a sterling conscience hidden away somewhere.  In her review, Ms. Gross put it best when she said, “The screenwriters seem torn between making Greg more sympathetic, and making the world less cruel.”

But this is not a huge problem and one might still enjoy the movie in spite of this new version of Greg.  No, my problem with the film was the invisible friend.

I explain.

Though I have no proof of any of this, here is how I believe the production of Diary of a Wimpy Kid went down.  The film was finished to some extent and previewed to The Powers That Be.  TPTB took one look at it and said, “It’s great, but boy there just aren’t any girls in there right?”  Someone might have pointed out the presence of the mom and Patty, but for the most part that’s correct.  “Yeah.  So, here’s what I’m thinking.  Why don’t we just reshoot a whole bunch of these scenes and add in this new girl character.  We’ll make it that Chloe Moretz girl.  She’s slated to be in Kick-Ass soon, and we think this could really be a good star vehicle for her.  Make her, like, Greg’s conscience or something.”  Someone might have asked how one would go about incorporating a whole new character that is not in the book into the film.  “I don’t know!  Do I have to think of everything?  Just make her the school photographer or something.  Then she can be in all the scenes but not actually, y’know, have to interact with anyone.”

You may laugh, but try watching the film with the knowledge that it was originally created without Chloe Moretz.  It’s remarkable.  Observe.

Here is our first glimpse of the new character “Angie Steadman”.  Your first shot is under some bleachers.  So right off the bat you get a girl that is supposed to be a loner (note her copy of Howl in hand) and also is conveniently far away from any groups where she would have to be awkwardly integrated.

At this point we began to realize that Chloe primarily appears when Greg and Rowley are alone.  This suggests that the reshoots really only required these two actors and a couple extras to be present.

She often comes out of nowhere to offer advice.  So I began to watch the movie with the idea that maybe Chloe is a figment of Greg’s imagination.  And maybe Rowley is such a stand-up guy that he pretends to see her too.  After all, she only speaks to one character aside from Rowley and Greg in this film, and it’s at the end.

Here’s the most definite evidence that Chloe wasn’t in the original script.  One minute she’s walking down the hallway with our heroes . . .

. . . and the next minute *poof!*  She’s gone!

Well, maybe not gone, but rather she’s been turned into a boy.  It’s a very funny scene.  You never even see her peel off.  One minute she’s there.  The next, you’re back in the original script.

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Chloe’s sole purpose, it seems, is to reiterate over and over how important it is to be yourself and not seek popularity.  The filmmakers found other ways to drop her into scenes, though.  There’s the school play . . .

And Chloe gets a whole scene all to herself.

Pity the poor child actor that was hired as “the photographer” only to be replaced by Chloe’s character.  I’m sure there was one in the original script.  But giving Chloe this job was a good idea.  It allows her to seemingly be in scenes where she wasn’t before.

Finally, you get to the end of the film.  This is fun.  Watch what they do with Chloe in the crowd scenes.

Big Crowd!

There’s Chloe.

Big Crowd!

There’s Chloe.  And one other headless extra.

And finally, BIG CROWD!  No Chloe.

At the end of the movie she interacts briefly with Patty, saying a line that could easily have been Greg’s once.  Then the two boys and their invisible friend laugh into the distance.

So if you find yourself watching this film at any point in the future, let me know what you think.  The way she pops in and out of scenes that seem to have been done in reshoots is remarkable.  This girl was clearly an afterthought.  And though The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary never says as much, Chloe’s presence is reduced to a single mention on a single page.  Proof positive that that too was added at the last minute?  The world may never know.

Thanks to Matt for helping me with the screen captures!

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About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

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About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. James Kennedy says

    August 18, 2010 at 6:58 am

    Amazing analysis! You just made the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movie into a kind of crypto-“Fight Club.” Chloe as Greg’s Tyler Durden? Brilliant!

    By the way, have you read “A Diary of a Nobody” by George and Weedon Grossmith? It’s one of my favorite books — a kind of nineteenth-century middle-aged version “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” Similar trick with the first-person narrator not realizing how much of his own awfulness he’s inadvertently displaying.

    • Elizabeth Bird says

      August 18, 2010 at 12:38 pm

      James, I would have given all the money in the world to hear Chloe say to someone, “Hit me as hard as you can.” All the money.

      I wonder if Kinney’s book was an unconscious homage to the Grosssmiths’? Certainly I love the idea of a middle aged version of the book. The closest thing I could come up with would be “A Fan’s Notes” and the tone isn’t quite right. Cheers!

  2. euan says

    August 18, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    I thought greg was too young.

  3. James Kennedy says

    August 18, 2010 at 2:37 pm

    “A Fan’s Notes” is one of my favorites, one of those books I keep urging my friends to read, even buying it for them and putting it in their hands — and nobody reads it. I’m so happy to hear you like it too!

    • Elizabeth Bird says

      August 18, 2010 at 3:15 pm

      Matt turned me on to Exley when we first started dating. It’s eerie how closely your reading selection mirrors his, James. I don’t suppose you harbor a secret love for Heinrich Boll’s “The Clown” too, do you?

  4. W.H. Beck says

    August 18, 2010 at 3:01 pm

    We just watched this too. My boys (11 and 8) were perplexed with the Angie character, too. But, boy, did we laugh at some other parts!

  5. James Kennedy says

    August 18, 2010 at 4:30 pm

    Unfortunately, you’ve stumped me on Boll. But now I have a new book to read, since our tastes are so congruent — and since Wikipedia says this about the hero of “The Clown”: “Hans has a mystical peculiarity, as he can detect smells through the telephone.”

    In return, I recommend Ernest Junger’s “The Glass Bees” and J.K. Huysmans’ “A Rebours.” If you / he have read those too, then my head will officially explode, and I will be forced to declare unprecedented psychic correspondence.

  6. The Benz says

    August 18, 2010 at 9:07 pm

    Hmm… you’re kinda right… I may hafta watch it again though.

  7. Karen from Kidsmomo.com says

    August 23, 2010 at 3:07 am

    Whoa, this totally just gave me the creeps…

  8. rod says

    March 24, 2013 at 11:54 am

    I am obssesed with this book. But the movie is not just like the book.<3<3<3. 😉

Trackbacks

  1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Movie « books, check 'em out says:
    August 18, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    […] 08/18/2010 Filed under: Uncategorized — kimbolee @ 6:51 AM A great post over at A Fuse 8 Production (one of my top 5 blogs) about the mysterious new girl in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Movie. I’m […]

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