The character of Susie in Trick of the Dark is essentially that of the love interest, however, though this is the case, she is a little more than just a one dimensional showing of this aspect of who she is. This is due to the fact that while she does end up somewhat romantically involved with our protagonist, she is not solely there for this purpose but she is also not the true love of our protagonist. In this sense she has a similar relationship to our protagonist as Eowyn does to Aragorn in the Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers.
I draw upon this character dynamic because in LOTR:TTT Eowyn finds herself falling for Aragorn despite his heart belonging to the similarly named Arwen. Though where this differs to my script and my characters is that in this there is very little reciprocation for Aragorn and he does noted her on in any way particularly, she falls for him but he never suggests that the feeling is returned and instead does what he can to be a friend. Susie differs in a few ways in my film because firstly, the feelings are more instigated by Scott, though they are returned by her. However the similarity can be drawn that there is an attraction between the two but ultimately they are meant for other people. The other notable difference between Eowyn and Susie is that Eowyn longs to be regarded as an equal to the men in the film and as such she strives to push and be part of the battles they take part in, while Susie does not shy away from the arguments of the film, she is much more calm and passive than Eowyn, though it could actually be argued that in this they are similar because Susie is not afraid to be strong and deal with conflict, though the script perhaps doesn't demonstrate this character trait enough.
The second character I drew upon for Susie was Scarlett Johansson's Molly from the film Chef, though she is a relatively small part of the film, she still has a part to play as a well rounded support character.
In the film Chef it would have been easy to make Scar Jo the 'eye candy' and have her simply play this role and just be a 'what if' for the character of Casper, however, she in no way serves this purpose, granted she is made to look attractive in the film, but this is not what her purpose is, in the film she acts as a voice of reason and a leveller of emotion. She basically is there to bring Casper round to a level headed way of thinking, her purpose is almost to remove the heat when it is turned up by the male characters. In this Susie is very similar to Molly, when Alex and Scott start arguing and tensions rise between them, she is the one to bring the tension back down, of course if you know the plot eventually it gets to be beyond her control. However, this is symbolic of the mental struggle of Scott, Susie is his coping mechanism but as she is a human and no one is perfect, so to is his coping mechanism and as such it eventually fails and his aggressive, destructive nature (Alex) wins out and does some almost irreparable damage. However, just as Molly is at times a light in Casper's life, more so is Susie in the life of Scott, while in the cave he is the only positive thing that is constant. Though it is worth noting that though she is always there, her role is sometimes minimal, this is predominately due to the fact that she is symbolic of hope and of the positive thoughts in Scott's head which often take a back seat, hence the point of the film.
The third and final character of note that I drew upon in the creation of Susie is 'Girl' from the 2007 film Once, despite her lack of name she is the second main character in the film, it was just a creative choice to name the lead roles 'Guy' and 'Girl', you never actually hear their real names in the film.
I drew upon this character in part because all through the film she is a positive force, even when things are hard for her she can look on the brighter side and figure out a way out or through the issue. In addition to this, she is creative but also reserved and I feel this is something in common with my imagining of Susie, she is a creative person who is also practical and focused but she doesn't really express her creativity until given the proper platform, it could be said that this part of Susie is a reflection of Scott stifling his own creativity, this is because Susie only shows her creative side on one occasion in the film and thats to create the contraption that leads to them getting attention from the 'Man' (I'd like to say his name is homage to Once, but that is not the case). It is of mention that none of these characters are Susie, however it is worth mentioning all three of them because a combination of these characters and some real people in my life have come together to make the character of Susie and it will be interesting to see how closely this marries up to the eventual actor's portrayal of her.
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