Did Tommy develop real feelings for Carrie?
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knight-in-black-leather — 10 years ago(June 08, 2015 09:55 PM)
Just wondering, but how do you know about that deleted scene? Is there footage or evidence of it somewhere? Also, I always thought the key around her neck was just her key to her gym locker or something
I don't remember the specific source for the information, as I've read many articles on the film and watched the documentaries on the dvd. Also, I read this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Studies-Horror-Film-Joe-Aisenberg/dp/1933618957/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433825662&sr=8-1&keywords=studies+in+horror+carrie
which had some extra insight about the film. I also read Sissy's biography, so it may have been in any one of those places where I read it. Sorry.
If I come across it again, I'll post the source.
Update I found it referenced in this interview Spacek did:
Q: How about the dancing sequence with William Katt?
A:
I loved that. The rhythm of the whole scene got me excited. We were spinning on a circle, and the camera moved the other way. We had to be on camera every time we said a line. If anyone had explained it to me before we started, I would have said it was impossible! It worked, and I couldn't believe it. We were on camera every time! At the right time! It's an exhilarating scene. You share Carrie's happiness. It really comes through. Brian does that kind of thing real well. He takes your emotions from a horrific moment to a funny moment to a romantic moment to a horrific moment. He's such a physical director and such a fine boy.
The three of us working together - director, actress and Jack, the designer - were able to be totally involved with the project way before it started. We knew what would happen in any situation. We used to call Brian, so when he got back and turned on his answering machine, he'd hear, "Brian, we've got this great idea!"
There was one scene cut out of the film, primarily because it was shot in a similar fashion to the dance. It would've worked, but the same technique wouldn't have. It established Carrie with herself. You saw Carrie's barriers: a smile that, in case her classmates suddenly changed their minds and realized she wasn't a nerd, she'd be ready. I wanted to show her alone, so you'd get a sense of her strength. The scene was in her bedroom upstairs, her only safe place. She had a box that she kept under the bed. I did the same thing when I was a child, a fishing tackle box. Her inside self was there; the real Carrie, the Carrie who was a poet and artist. She wasn't just a mashed up little girl. I wanted to show that something came out of being locked in that closet for weeks. Inside the box was her poetry, the fabric that she eventually used for her dress, a picture of Tommy Ross, a snapshot of her father. She was upstairs the day she'd been sent home early from school. The camera slowly pans around the room and you see flowers and pictures - a little girl's room, in fact. Then she sees her mother return and she runs around putting everything away and back under her bed. And this is where they started the scene - she grabs a sweater, buttons it up and puts the key to the box around her neck. But we couldn't use that shot because it was just too much spinning.
You may have noticed all the attic space between the stairs and Carrie's room? Well, the flooring wasn't finished and Carried hid things down there, too. It was her own private world. I wanted to establish that because, at one time, we thought that Carrie could crash through the floor to the kitchen after being stabbed - so she would literally crash through her own little world, the one she had created.
https://sites.google.com/site/cultoddities/home/carrie/carrie-1976/press/sissy-spacek-interviews
Take care
This is a faithful sayingJesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. -
Fleischmandoes — 10 years ago(June 10, 2015 07:15 AM)
Wow - I never knew about that cut scene! Thanks for that.
BTW this part:
You may have noticed all the attic space between the stairs and Carrie's room? Well, the flooring wasn't finished and Carried hid things down there, too. It was her own private world.
Gives more meaning and weight to her mother hiding the knife there. I gasped when I read that as the symbolism of her hiding place for her world being also the hiding place for her mother's weapon against her is terrific! -
knight-in-black-leather — 10 years ago(June 10, 2015 08:46 PM)
Good catch Fleischman. Margaret hiding the knife in that particular spot really is symbolic and something I hadn't picked up on before.
Take care
This is a faithful sayingJesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. -
LadyDi4476 — 10 years ago(June 23, 2015 08:14 AM)
Wow, I didn't know about that deleted scene either. I would have liked to have seen more of who Carrie really was.
As for Tommy Ross, I do think he was starting to like her. Maybe not develop serious feelings, but there was an attraction building there. That's what makes her story all the more tragic.
-Di -
mperniciaro4 — 10 years ago(August 03, 2015 11:05 PM)
The answer, even though I can't physically prove it, the answer is yes and no. Without watching the movie listen to the lyrics of the song that tommy and carrie dance to.then think about them at their biological time and state , some of the answer is given
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smokehill retrievers — 10 years ago(September 23, 2015 09:50 PM)
He seemed to be really seeing Carrie as a person and a girl for the first time, and definitely seems to be attracted.
Bear in mind that couples change partners in high school almost as often as they change their socks. We don't know how long Tommy & Sue had been a couple, or how serious they were.
We really don't know enough about the situation to be able to guess what might have come along if the horror hadn't put a stop to all of it. -
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Clockwork399 — 10 years ago(November 02, 2015 10:52 PM)
I honestly am leaning towards thinking he could have struck up a relationship with her. He did seem genuinely interested in her at the prom. His manner dictated this. He was just being kind to her at the beginning but he did things he didn't have to do, he kissed her on more than one occasion. Not just a peck on the lips either. You could see with his facial reactions that he noticed himself that he was falling for her.
When he sees Sue fighting with Ms. Collins he sort of shakes his head as if to think "Is she jealous or something?" We know that wasn't the case at all, but it was what he thought prior to dying.
If things went well for them at the prom who knows. High school has a lot of peer pressure and the most popular boy in school dating the most unpopular girl would be awkward and he would get a lot of jokes about it. Plus, he did seem to love Sue, so I think if they all survived the prom he probably stays with Sue but he has feelings for sure for Carrie. -
samanthaseaotter — 10 years ago(November 05, 2015 09:28 PM)
In the book, Tommy starts thinking, "Yes, I love her, I love this one, too" just before the pig blood splatters everywhere.
Also, in the book Carrie is not a slight strawberry blonde as Sissy Spacek is - she was a chunky girl who nevertheless took a look at herself in the mirror one day and decides she's not so ugly and that her legs were smooth and white and pretty, almost as pretty as Sue Snell's.
A re-read of the book would be an interesting exercise, since in the book you can read most of the characters' feelings; the author is third person omniscient. One of the more interesting bits is when Billy "wonders when Chris would start to look less like a goddess to him and more like a bitch."
Man, it's been YEARS since I read that book (read it in '78). Can't believe I remember so much of it.
Samantha
Get right or get left! -
Deano792010 — 10 years ago(February 04, 2016 03:40 PM)
I don't believe it reall matters if they starters a relationship or not.Carrie White was always meant to die that night.
If none of the events took place with the pigs blood etc,she would have went home and been murdered by her mother.
Her life was always going to end in tragedy. -
americanadian25 — 10 years ago(February 27, 2016 01:42 AM)
In the book he did, in the movie its left vague, but there are some hints that maybe he was. I think he liked Carrie as a person, and as he was spending time with her, he started to develop some feelings. I mean, not full on love but something was there. Plus, he was genuinely pissed off when the bucket of blood was dropped on Carrie.
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godfather4377 — 9 years ago(February 04, 2017 01:35 PM)
Nope, he only felt guilty at first and obviously was doing it for Sue too. I don't think Tommy ever disliked Carrie. Did he think she was a little weird? Yes It was hard not to make those first impressions about Carrie. We all thought Carrie was a bit weird too. Because she was weird.
Sure, we knew why she was this way where Tommy didn't. But, she never justified being picked on the way she did. And I don't think Tommy was ever the type to want to do that to her, because she was different.
And he did laugh at first about going to the prom with her. Because it probably caught him so off-guard and knew his friends would laugh about this. I think Tommy did care about his "image" at first. After all, he was popular, and it's only human nature to enjoy being "liked". That doesn't make him a bad guy, especially at his age, just human nature to want to fit in.
But he never really fights going to the prom with her. A little at first, I guess, but he never seems completely disinterested in the idea. I think he sees Sue's point and is willing to do it to help Carrie. So, Tommy clearly was a good guy from the start.
He even was impressed the way she stuck up for his poem (he didn't really write we later found out) in class. When the teacher mocks Carrie over it, he mutters "you suck" to himself. He meant the teacher not Carrie. Everyone else laughs with the teacher, but notice Tommy doesn't laugh. Tommy didn't write the poem either, so it's not like he should care.
He was fascinated with what she said and it got his interest. There was some interest/curiosity from Tommy regarding Carrie from the start.
So, Tommy saw Carrie different than everyone else, even before Sue. He never carried any desire to make fun of Carrie at all.
But, Tommy is popular, Carrie isn't, so at that time in the movie he was probably still too concern about his image to ever make it known that he didn't think she seemed that bad. A little socially awkward and odd, but there seemed to be some attraction from Tommy even then.
I think Tommy truly started liking her at the prom though. Once they go inside and start talking, his demeanor changes. He goes from feeling a little bad for her to truly being interested in her.
He calls her beautiful, and he wasn't just saying that. And he kissed her and he meant it too. There's no way Sue asked that. You think Sue would suggest her boyfriend to kiss another girl? The thought never entered her mind. She never thought Tommy would truly fall for Carrie.
Sue felt guilty and wanted Carrie to fit in. But that's where it ended. Tommy got caught up in the moment and meant that kiss.
So yes, he was developing real feelings for her. I don't think we'll ever know if he'd have been with her. But Tommy realized she was innocent, sweet, attractive, and genuinely enjoyed her company. He no longer cared what anyone thought about it too. And he wanted to keep seeing her that night. He made that known.
So one has to assume he was falling for her, and it's possible he was interested in continuing a relationship with her.
I never read the book, but we don't know the extent of his relationship with Sue in the movie. Was he in love with Sue? Was she with him? There's nothing definitive to suggest that. We just knew they were together. They seemed to have a good relationship, but we don't know for sure how close/serious they were.