Busted! Serendipity & “The Peanut Butter Falcon”

“Serendipity is not the product of patience; it’s the product of action.”

– Audrey Moralez

A few weeks ago, I made a last-minute surprise road trip to Victoria…a three-hour drive from where I live in Qualicum Beach. I didn’t tell any of my Victoria peeps I would be in town because…well, because I thought it would be fun to stay in a hotel and do the tourist thing.

But I got busted!

I was walking along Dallas Road when a couple of cyclists suddenly stopped beside me and gave me the look (rather like Paddington Bear’s “Hard Hard Stare”).

They were, of course, dear friends of mine who were, shall we say, rather surprised to see me traipsing about their town.

“Why didn’t you call?” asked the guy.

“You could have stayed with us!” said his wife.

“I know, I know…” I said, rather sheepishly. “I just wanted to…you know, hang out and do my own thing.”

We all had a good laugh (and they totally agreed that just-me-time is perfectly acceptable) and then a great little visit, right there on the bike path. They told me they’d watched “The Peanut Butter Falcon” the night before.

“The what?” I asked.

“The movie, “The Peanut Butter Falcon!” It is awesome! You have to see it.”

And so, a few days later, I did just that. And when I did, I damn near fell off the couch the first time Shia LaBeouf appeared on screen. I had never seen him in a film before.

And I don’t mean Shia just looks like my husband, John, who died in 2000. The way Shia looked at the camera reminded me of the way John used to look at me.

It was rather uncanny. But lovely 😊

I still can’t quite put my finger on it but there was something about the expression in Shia’s eyes that reminded me of John’s. Sexy and smoldering, yes, of course. But there was also a depth and intensity that reminded me of John. And the fact that much of Shia’s face was hidden under a mountain of facial hair probably helped me focus on his eyes.

I made a mental note to myself that, when the time comes, Shia would be a perfect actor to play John in one of the film and/or theatre projects I have on the go. But hey, all in due time 😊

At any rate, I thoroughly enjoyed the film (for many reasons, including the heartfelt performance by Shia’s two co-stars, Zach Gottsagen & Dakota Johnson). There was just so much…love.

But the serendipitous sequence of Shia events wasn’t quite finished. For my subconscious mind had been doing a little processing of its own.

Two days after watching the film, I woke up thinking about the flashback scene in “The Peanut Butter Falcon” when Tyler, the character played by Shia, was driving his brother home and fell asleep at the wheel.

The flashback was super short. We just saw Tyler driving, then his point of view of seeing the yellow lines on the road, then slowly crossing over the yellow lines and then…nothing. Fade to black. We didn’t see the crash nor the aftermath because we didn’t need to. By that point in the film, we already knew his brother had died, we just didn’t know how. After that, we did.

So I asked myself: where in the screenplay that I am currently rewriting (about John’s death – tentatively entitled, “The Pooh Stone”), could I trim some scenes that are not necessary to the story? The answer came to me instantly. Thank you, subconscious mind.

I got out of bed and proceeded to cut FOUR pages from my script!

All this because of an impromptu road trip to Victoria. But that’s serendipity for you.

It’s up to us to decide what to do with them…how best to proceed: act on the suggestion (watch the movie) or just nod politely and go on our merry way – the one we had planned – and perhaps miss out on a nugget or two of intel that might be of use.

Maryanne Pope is the author of “A Widow’s Awakening.” She also writes screenplays, playscripts and blogs. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and a Director with the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. To receive her blog, “Weekly Words of Wisdom,” please subscribe here.