Watch an Awkward Party Scene in ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’ | Anatomy of a Scene

A party game becomes the source of dramatic tension in “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” the screen adaptation of Judy Blume’s beloved novel about adolescence.

In this sequence, Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) attends a party at the home of one of her classmates. Things get rowdy when Nancy (Elle Graham) proposes a game for the group: Two Minutes in the Closet. The girls are all given numbers. The boys draw those numbers from a bowl. The two people whose numbers match retreat to the closet, or in this case, a guest bathroom, for two minutes.

The director and screenwriter Kelly Fremon Craig staged the scene in a heightened way, creating a thriller-like intensity while also playing key moments for laughs.

“Where I placed all of the actors was a conscious decision,” Craig said in an interview, because it was important to me how far they had to walk to get to each other, how far Margaret had to walk to get to the bathroom, all of those things.”

In addition to the blocking, the scene comes together through a combination of performance, lighting and song selection, with the Dusty Springfield hit “Son of a Preacher Man” helping to further elevate it.

“This was the luckiest I’ve ever gotten on a needle drop,” Craig said, recalling that she and her editor haphazardly added the song during the editing process. “It wound up that it scored the moment so perfectly that we couldn’t believe it. And actually, we have never moved it, even a single frame from that very first time we dropped it in.”

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[trinaq]

I loved this book in middle school, and I'm glad that they kept the 60's/70's setting, rather than trying to update it for a newer generation.

[shatogirl]

all the people who haven’t watched the movie saying this is sexualising of children really show where their state of minds are at

[rikabernar]

This scene is so sweet. Love how you conveyed the girl's feelings.

[rgarlinyc]

Only a snippet but clearly excellent scripting and directing - and great acting too! 👏🏻👏🏻

[gcdub]

I remember reading these pages as a 12 year old and feeling the feels, can’t wait to see the whole movie!

[GoodTasteArt]

The entire movie is really super. I saw it last night.

[eejable]

Spin the bottle is what I played at my first boy/girl party lolol 😅 god

[calm]

The last scene with the boy mowing the lawn was a experience I had. In grade school one of my sisters best friends liked me. I wasted into girls 😊. But when she was going away for the summer. I felt like I was going to miss her. So I said to her. Have a good summer. Then I said maybe we can hang out. We are married now 😊.

[waryinzero]

Ahh. Peer pressure. It takes even more strength not to succumb to it.

[lankytor]

We must we must we must increase our bust! Now it’s our income 😅

[Elizabeth.RMartin]

My grandmother's name is (Arla)Area Margarete Lowell.

[seanwebb]

If I was that age I would have kissed him too. He looks dreamy.

[Jagzs]

What is it called I searched it up on kids and adults on Netflix

[MsTinkerbelle]

What’s with all of the old books being shows now? lol

[trashtvinternational]

It’s called 7 minutes in heaven .. smh

[IamwhoIam]

I'm surprised that the
Rep🤮kians haven't BANNED this book because it has to do with KID'S growing up.

[SiLikeyPizza]

It’s a well shot scene and all but it just feels like this is borderline hypersexualization of underage kids. I haven’t seen the movie though so idk

[MFK]

This movie was awful… For a favorable comparison, watch freaks and geeks or welcome to the dollhouse… This movie was utterly sanitized… Being 11 years old in 1970 was a lot weirder and messier and darker and bitter, sweet and ironic and cringey… it was nothing like this party scene

[jakelamb]

You all realize they spent time energy and money to create an episode dedicated to children interacting in a sexual manner ..

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