Read Azazel Jacobs’ Rhythmic ‘His Three Daughters’ Screenplay, Written with All Three Stars in Mind

Azazel Jacobs’ original screenplay for his acclaimed film “His Three Daughters” is now available to view online, exclusive to IndieWire.

Read the “His Three Daughters” screenplay here.

Telling the story of estranged sisters Katie (Carrie Coon), Christina (Elizabeth Olsen), and Rachel (Natasha Lyonne) who come together to care for their ailing father (memorably played by Jay O. Sanders) in his New York apartment, and mend their own broken relationships with one another, the film premiered to rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival 2023 before being acquired by Netflix.

In a recent interview with IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio, Jacobs spoke of being very particular about the way in which he worked on the script, which is currently nominated for Best Screenplay at the Gotham Awards 2024. “I wrote it to a cutting rhythm. I tried to write the script so it would move exactly how I wanted it to film,” the filmmaker said. “Since I could hear Katie’s voice a certain way, this staccato way in, and Christina’s has this certain type of melody, and Rachel has a different one, I did my best to represent the script with how this movie would move. Then I wound up doing a color-coded version of the script just so I could think about where the cuts would be before shooting … because we’re in this one space, separating them, revealing the space slowly, compared to the actors and the characters that are also revealing themselves in this similar way, layer by layer.”

In one of the first awards Q&A of the season for the film with Jacobs and his stars, it was revealed that all three of the main actresses’ parts were written for them, including Lyonne’s, which has resulted in her own Gotham Awards nomination for Best Supporting Performance. “I was so confident in this film. I felt very sure, not only for them being in the roles, but also how it was going to be shot, where it was going to be shot, who I was going to work with. More than any other film I’ve done in the past, I could see this one all the way through,” Jacobs later told IndieWire. “Maybe that was convincing to them, that I was already so convinced that they were absolutely were the right person, and that this would be an interesting and worthy experience.”

Read the “His Three Daughters” screenplay here.

“His Three Daughters” is now streaming on Netflix.